((f^)' 



V V 



THE 



Autobiography 



OF 



Calvin Smith 



OF 



Smithville 



Published by 
6ANFORD H. ROBISON, JR. 

PHILADELPHIA. 

FEBRUARY, icp6. 



((To: 



MM 







Mi^ 









i^^pjl^p 



Wi^!^ 




'^M^ 








^HiStWi^Zi 




mmmm 




THE 



Autobiography 



OF 



Calvin Smith 



OF 



Smithville 



Published by 
SANFORD H. ROBISON, JR., 



PHILADELPHIA. 



^loi^-U. /p/i^^^ AX^oMAv )JAKUk 






By Tiarsf y: 

>fAR t 1909 



\H-t^W 



^ 



PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT. 



In presenting the Autobiography of Calvin Smith, of 
Smithville, to the public the publisher wishes to state that it is 
in response to the demands of newspapers which have been for 
years publishing extracts from it and articles about him. 

As far as possible the exact words of Mr. Smith have 
been used there being no effort to change his language. Typo- 
graphical efforts may possibly be found in the book, although 
every effort has been made to get the names and dates correct. 

This book contains many true incidents, gathered during 
his ninety-two years of life, and is especially interesting on 
account of many stories of the War of the Rebellion and the 
Border Ruffians' War which have never been published before . 
Inasmuch as he was an active participant in these struggles the 
public will have an opportunity of reading inside facts for the 
first time. 

There are also numerous facts about the early settlement 
of Missouri which cannot fail to interest everyone. 

The Pubusher. 



# <?T* 



*^% 




CALVIN SMITH 



PREFACE. 

This, my autobiography, I dedicate to all, both young and 
old. I have been faithful in stating nothing but facts, and 
have designedly left out nothing to shield wrong in me. 
Read the traveling history of one past ninety-two years, 
from my cradle to date. I do not restate here what I have 
written in the following pages of my book. I do not boast 
of much fine Hterary ability or many big-sounding words to 
cover over faults, but state things as they occurred. I say 
I stored away my good deeds in a safe; also, in another 
safe, my happy days, gathering information all through life 
so I would be in good company when alone, with wisdom 
to enjoy it. Oft'times and odd times or in night-dreams, I 
take them out and recount them all over for enjoyment. 
Now when the time comes I shall wrap my mantle around 
me and lay me down to pleasant dreams, counting all is 
well. I know who I believe: if I keep and do His word I 
shall never die. I do not say I am without faults and have 
not sinned. But I pray the Lord to pardon me, for surely 
He will, and is able and willing, if I have faith in His word, 
which I have and do believe; and pray I may never sin more. 
My great desire is to live righteously before God and man, 
and do his word. This day I renew my pledge to serve the 
Lord. CAI.VIN Smith. 

1611 Oak Street, Kansas City, Mo. 

December 22, 1905. 



7 

CHAPTER I. 

My Ancestors. 

In writing this autobiographical sketch, first, I deem it fit 
that I name the loins whence I and mine have sprung. 

The tradition handed down to me by my ancestors is that 
previous to the treaty of Ryswick in 1697, my ancestors lived 
in Alsace, or to be more accurate, "in the city (Strasburg) 
where the big clocks are." Previous to this date Alsace was 
a Province of Germany, but by that treaty was ceded to 
France. 

My ancestor being a German refused to live under the 
flag of France, and emigrated to the eastern shores of the 
Rhine and looked for a suitable place to locate on German 
soil, but he heard of the colonies across the Atlantic, and he 
emigrated to America, and arrived in the colonies of her 
Majesty, Queene Anne of England, exactly what year I am 
unable to say, but tradition says during the reign of Queen 
Anne, which was from 1702 to 1714. He settled first in New 
Jersey, a short distance north of and east of the city of 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

His descendant, Abraham Smith, my grandfather, then 
married a Miss Davenport, and when my father, Humphrey 
Smith, was about ten years of age the Smith and Davenport 
families moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pa. I am informed the 
Davenport family was at that time, and has been ever since, a 
populous and energetic family in the vicinity of Wilkes-Barre. 
Thence my father, Humphrey Smith, when a young man 
emigrated to Western New York and settled near the head 
of Cayuga Lake, where he engaged in the distilling business, 
and where he met and married Nancy Walker, my mother; 
Nancy Walker's father having come to the colonies from 
England during the Revolutionary War as a British soldier. 



8 

Shortly after the battle of Long Island he was sent on a 
foraging expedition, and was captured by the Continental 
tooops and paroled. He went to Connecticut, where he met 
Miss Atwater, whom he married, she being a descendant of 
the celebrated Atwater family, who were of the first settlers 
of New Haven Bay Colony, and I believe is a descendant of 
David Atwater, who was the first president of the Town 
Council of New Haven Bay Colony. 

After marrying Miss Atwater, peace was declared, and 
the British forces sent squads of men through the country 
seeking British soldiers who had been paroled. 

In order to escape these bands Walker took his family out 
into the unsettled country, now known as Vermont, and 
remained there till the British troops were all out of the 
United States, when he went West and settled on the West- 
ern frontier in Western New York, where, as I have said 
before, his daughter, Nancy — my mother — married Humphrey 
Smith, my father. 

Later Humphrey Smith settled in Erie County, New York, 
and built what was then known as Smith's Mills, where I 
was born. 

In later years, when I became a man grown, I was con- 
sidered, and I think I may say, without conceit, somethirtg 
of a beau in frontier society; hardly was a frolic or a wed- 
ding, or an infair considered complete without my presence, 
and frequently I was manager of such social events. 

I remember that along about the year 1835 rny services 
were required as best man at a wedding and an infair heM 
near Big Shoal meeting house, in Clay County, Mo., a few 
miles northwest of Kansas City, Mo., and along about two 
o'clock in the afternoon myself and gentlemen friends came 
into a cleared place by the roadside near a spring; we found 
there a family of movers from Virginia, and the man in 



charge of the little party asked us if we knew a man living 
in that section of the country by the name of Jacob Eiler. 
I spoke up and said that I did, that he Hved about twenty 
miles northwest of that point, not far from the village of 
Smithville, in the forks of the Platte. He said that Eiler 
was his brother-in-law. I noticed a young girl about four- 
teen years of age gathering up the cooking utensils and 
other belongings of the movers. Her name was Agnes Jor- 
dan and a few years afterwards she became my wife and the 
mother of all my children. 

Agnes Jordan, on her father's side was descended from 
the Dutch of Holland. Her mother was a Cunningham of 
Scotch-Irish descent, and whose ancestor, Cunningham, 
came to the American colonies as private secretary of one 
of the Colonial Governors of Virginia. It is the same Cun- 
ningham family which played a very important part on the 
frontiers of Virginia in its early setthng and which family 
always had an active part in all the Indian wars and forays, 
and, in fact, the Cunninghams were "game chickens," and 
were always on one side or the other in every fight that hap- 
pened between the inhabitants of Virginia or the colonies or 
the United States and any other people. 

I understand they are yet very populous in Greenbrier 
and Fayette Counties, Virginia, in which latter county 
Agnes Jordan was born. 



10 

CHAPTER II. 

An Autobiographical Sketch. 

T, Calvin Smith, was born on the 23d day of December, 
1813, at Hum.phrey Smith's Mills, on Buffalo creek, Erie 
Cor.nty, New York, 18 miles southwest of Buffalo. This 
place is now called East Aurora. My father had built these 
mills in 1810. Late in the fall of 1815 he sold the mills to a 
Mr. Griffin and afterwards they were called Griffin's Mills. 

On the 29th day of February, 1816, my father prepared for 
a trip to the West. He had four thousand dollars in gold 
which he put in a belt and buckled it around his waist. In 
an old-style two-wheeled ox-cart, drawn by a yoke of oxen, 
he put his family and started for Missourie, that being the 
French pronunciation and the way it was spelled at that 
time. We went to Olean, a point on the Allegheny River. 
With his wife and four children he embarked there on a 
canoe. At Pittsburgh, Pa., father had to attach the canoe to 
a flat-bottom boat going to New Orleans. At Louisville, 
Kentucky, we met three or four families who were going to 
the new territory of Missouri. Father chipped in with them 
and bought a keel boat and we floated down the Ohio River 
to its mouth. The children would stand on the deck of the 
boat and watch the shore. When we would see a fine look- 
ing house on a high hill one of the children would sing out: 
"Whose fine house is that away yonder?" Then someone 
would reply: "It is not yours, for I know by your asking." 
Then all would join in the chorus of a song I have a faint 
recollection of which was called "Fol de rol de rol derido." 

At the mouth of the Ohio River we turned into the Mis 
sissippi and the boat was propelled u pthat river by men who 
walked along the shore and drew the boat after them. The 
men worked like beavers in the mud and water, while a man 



II 

on the boat, with a long pole kept it from running ashore. 

In time we reached St. Louis, 190 miles from the mouth of 
the Ohio River. We stopped there two or three weeks. 
Humphrey Smith bought a tract of land in what is now the 
central business part of St. Louis. It was on Fourth street 
near where the Planters' Hotel is now located. When it 
came to record the deeds it was found that the title was im- 
perfect, so the deal fell through. A few days afterwards we 
all boarded the keel boat again for another move. Eighteen 
miles brought us to the Missouri River and we went up that 
river 300 miles to a place then called Cole's Fort, now Boon- 
ville, Mo. We reached there on the first day of July, 1816, 
Just four months to a day from the time we left New York. 

On the 14th day of July my sister Missouri was born and 
about five weeks later, August, 1816, father and his family 
crossed the Missouri River and settled eight miles east of 
Old Franklin, Howard County. We moved several times, 
but stayed in that county until 1819. We then moved to 
Carroll County, Mo. This was during the "Missouri Ques- 
tion," whether the new incoming State should be a slave or 
free State. The "Missouri Compromise" in 1822 settled in 
favor of a slave State. 

In 1822 father took another move to Clay County, Mis- 
souri, and settled at a place now called Smithville, in the 
northwest part of the county. It was then a wilderness, being 
ten miles to the nearest neighbor. 

The first Smith Mills were started there. It was a hand 
mill, two stones, each two feet across and six inches thick, 
one on top of the other. We could grind enough fine meal 
on this mill, in about an hour, to last all day. In those days 
for coffee we parched corn, put it in a leather bag and then 
pounded it with a stick or hammer. We boiled it in a tea 
kettle. For our meal we used a sieve made of raw hide 



12 

bound round a hoop. We punched holes in the raw hide with 
a large knitting needle heated to a white heat. When the 
bran floated on top we blew it off and the heavy part we 
boiled in a kettle and this made the best of hominy. This 
meal we baked in a skillet, and though the bread was black, 
we enjoyed it. 

I remember one day father found eight bee trees, my 
Uncle Walker seven and my eldest brother, who was only 
thirteen years of age, found three. Father took mother to 
a tree and they got a whole bucketful without disturbing the 
bees. After that we never lacked honey, A large barrel 
with a square hole large enough to put your hand in, sawed 
at the bung hole, was always full of honey. 

Shortly after this my father walked all the way to his old 
home in New York State, a distance of 1400 miles, to collect 
the money due him by Griffin, who had bought the mills 
when our family went West. When he got the money at 
Aurora he started home, taking the same route as when he 
went first. He stopped at Pittsburg, Pa., and bought a full 
set of saw mill irons, up and down saw mill cranks, stirrups 
for saw, a ton of bar iron, a number of bars of English Blis- 
ter steel, a full set of irons for grist mill with a silk bolting 
cloth that cost $30.00, blacksmith tools, anvils, bellows, etc. 
He shipped these goods to St. Louis and thence to Boon- 
ville. They were shipped by a keel boat. In 1824 with this 
material Father built and put in operation the celebrated 
mills at Smithville. There were born to him and my mother 
six sons and one daughter. 

School privileges were poor, as were the 
facilities for acquiring books and stationery. All the chil- 
dren learned the three "R's." Your orator remained in 
Smithville until 1862; was married to Miss Agnes Jordan in 



13 

Platte County, in 1840. Miss Jordan was from Virginia (now 
West Virginia). Her father was of Dutch descent. Her 
mother was of Scotch-Irish descent and was a Protestant. 
Her mother was a Cunningham, a large and noted family 
scattered all through the States of both the Virginias and 
the West. 

The civil war or rebellion was a persuader that caused 
your orator to hurry ofif with "bag and baggage" to bleed- 
ing Kansas, for peace sake, where he engaged in merchandis- 
ing, and remained twenty years. 

My children are now grown and mostly scattered; seven 
living out of nine born unto the manor. I now took a 
change of venue, and came to Kansas City in 1882. My wife 
died in 1884. After my arrival in Kansas City I settled at 
161 1 Oak street, where I now live. Twenty years ago I mar- 
ried Miss Fannie Burton, in Van Buren County, Iowa, my 
second wife. Her father was Mr. John W. Burton, formerly 
of Kentucky. My wife's mother was A. Freeman of Ohio. 
She is now living in Iowa. Mr. Burton is dead at 79 years 
of age. There were twelve children in this family, now two- 
thirds dead. 

As to the Smith family — they are of German origin, and 

I am of the fourth generation of American-born. Their 
first settlement in America was in New Jersey, about two 
hundred years ago. In 1784 they emigrated to Pennsylvania, 
and in 1800 they took another move to the State of New 
York. My mother's family were English. My Grandfather 
Walker came from England in 1777. My grandmother was 
an Atwater. Her ancestors came to America in 1635, and 
settled at New Haven Bay Colony, Connecticut, where now 
reside many of the Atwaters. My father and mother were 
married in the State of New York in 1803, near the head of 
Cayuga Lake, and were among the first to locate there. 



14 

Humphrey Smith, my father, was a strong supporter of 
John Adams' Administration as President of the United 
States of America, after the HamiUon theory of our Gov- 
ernment, approved by Washington, and which was opposed 
by Thomas Jefferson, who beheved in State's rights. In my 
day father took strong grounds for the election of John Q. 
Adams in 1828, and I supported for President in 1840 Wil- 
ham Henry Harrison, who was a Whig and a strong anti- 
slavery man. These principles being ground and rooted into 
all his sons — daughters also; so we were all Union men, 
hence Republicans. 

The "secesh party" during the late rebellion were ag- 
gressive, so I met them half way for a year and a half. In 
1862 (July of that year) I left Smithville, Clay County, Mis- 
souri, for the State of Kansas, at a great sacrifice of comfort 
and property, with all my family. Now my father was dead. 
He died in Smithville, Mo., in 1857. He was born in New 
Jersey in 1774. His father's name was Abraham Smith; his 
mother (my grandmother) was named Katherine Davenport. 
My mother (Nancy Walker) was born in 1783, in the State 
of Connecticut, and died in 1853 in Dallas County, Iowa, 
vhere my parents lived several years. 

In my religious views I am what is called a Protestant, 
and I am a member of the Christian church and have been 
for the last forty or fifty years. I believe the Bible as an 
inspired book. Where it speaks, I speak; and where it is 
silent I am silent. I am a Free Mason and have been forty 
years or more. On one occasion it furnished me a good 
purpose, by which I received due and timely notice of 
danger, to escape the clutches of the rebel general, Price, 
who had detailed six men to capture me and bring me to 
headquarters on the Osage River. I at the time belonged 



15 

to the Grand Army of the Repiibhc; was initiated at Ridgely, 
Platte County, Missouri, in February, 1862. The officers 
were Benjamin Smither, presiding officer; Ephroditus Fitz- 
geral, secretary. I was invited from my well-known Union 
sentiments, and the aid I had rendered. My guide was a 
Union soldier, armed with the implements of his off.ce. The 
outside doorkeeper was also armed. Those guards were 
Union soldiers, guarding the State of jMissouri to hold her 
in the Union. Ten thousand soldiers were furnished Gov- 
ernor Gamble by order of the President, Abraham Lincoln, 
I also belong to the Sons of Temperance, and have been a 
member of that organization for fifty years or more. While 
in Kansas I voted for prohibition and do not regret my vote 
yet. The world is my country and to do good to mankind is 
a part of my religion. 

I was postmaster in the town of Smithville for fifteen or 
twenty years, also in Valley Falls, Kansas, for several years. 
Have acted as Justice of the Peace, and could appear in 
under Courts as attorney, and often with success. Profes- 
sionally I am a farmer, miller, merchant and general busi- 
ness man. I had the use of tools, hence could do my own 
work if necessary. I made money by small profits as in a 
general way; but when reverses came it was in a wholesale 
way, often scarcely any let-up. Now I have some left — 
enough, I hope, to float me to the end. My health has been 
good in a general way. 

Speaking of my children: all have reasonably good starts 
in this business life; no serious physical ailments among 
them, hence I say doing reasonably well. 

A-t the age of five years I broke my thigh bone. This 
was in Howard County, Missouri, in 1819. When I was 23 
years old I took the measles and afterwards caught cold. It 



i6 

was many years before I got clear of the effects, if I ever did 
Was stricken in New Orleans, La., and staggered home be- 
fore I was able to travel. At the age of 45 I had a severe at- 
tack of winter typhoid fever. This left me with that trouble- 
some disease, piles. This affliction is one of my present 
ailments— not so bad as in years past. 

My oldest son, Erastus Smith, was born in 1841, 19th 
day of February; was married to Mollie Berry, September 22, 
1863. Nine children were born to them; three of them are 
now living. Our next child was a daughter, Almeda, born 
December 24, 1842; died in 1847, aged four and a half years. 
Next a son, Henry, a lawyer, born October, 1845 ; married in 
1877, to Miss Varina Courtney; they have seven children. 
Alice Letord, born in October, 1848; now has her second 
husband; three sons living, one dead; she has flvQ grand- 
sons, so I am now great-grandfather. Next a son, Sebree 
Smith, born 21st of June, 1851; went to West Point (New 
York) Military School in June, 1866, at 15 years of age; 
graduated there in 1870; was second lieutenant in the Sixth 
Cavalry six years. 

Promoted to f^rst lieutenant in the artillery, again pro- 
moted to captain of the third artillery and located at various 
stations. 

He was married to Annie Watkins in 1875. There were 
seven children, of whom three are now living. 

When in Washington, D. C, in 1900, suffering from 
sickness, he was ordered to take the examination for major, 
but was too ill. Two days afterwards he died from a stroke 
of paralysis, July 5, 1901. He was buried in the National 
Cemetery at Arlington with full military honors. 

Next a daughter, Maria, born in 1854; married George 
W. McClary. Three children were born to them-one now 
living and two dead. She is now living in California. Anna, 




ERASTUS SMITH, Age 65 CALVIN SMITH, Age 92 

JEWEL SMITH, Age 32 
DELWIN SMITH, Age 7 



FOUR GENERATIONS 



17 

the next daughter, \vas born in 1856, August 7th; married F. 
A. Goodenough in 1881; has three children living and one 
dead. Mr. Goodenough died in 1894. He was a Grand 
Army man, and drew a pension. He left his wife a reason- 
able amount of property by will. Mrs. Goodenough now 
lives in Northern Iowa, 

Our next child was James G. Smith, a lawyer, born 
1859; noi married. Next a son, Calvin, Jr., born in Octo- 
ber, 1863 , died aged 14 years 6 months. 

This comprises the outline of my life. I think to continue 
the history of my life, including many reminiscences, by way 
of a more detailed statement. 



i8 
CHAPTER III. 

My Father and Mother. 

Humphre}^ Smith, my father, was a soldier in the war of 
1812 for v/hich he received a mihtary bounty land warrant. 
My father was a laboring man and was handy with tools of 
any kind. His leading passion was mill building and milHng, 
and he could make or mend anything. He could make shoes, 
operate a mill, blacksmith or farm, and was equally handy 
with all — and such diversiveness was at that time necessary in 
the West, or in the first settlements in Pennsylvania and first 
settlements in New York State in 1800, down to 1830 in 
Missouri. He was also a moderate scholar and had kept 
school. He was a great reader and was familiar with most 
histories, both ancient and modern; also with the bards and 
poets. 

My father was a Protestant in religious faith, and was 
in his younger days a member of the Methodist Church, be- 
fore coming to Missouri. In this State he refused to unite 
with the church on account of the slave question; he holding 
that slavery was a sin: "Therefore put away from am.ongst 
yourselves that wicked person." His prejudice against slav- 
ery caused him to take my mother and move to the State of 
Iowa. There in one of the first settlements he built mills 
and secured several hundred acres of land. After ten years 
mother died there and father sold out and returned to 
Smithville, Mo., to the old homestead, where one son (the 
author) lived and was in business, and where Humphrey 
Smith died in 1857. 

The following inscription can be found on a marble mon- 
ument over his grave, in a small graveyard in Platte 



19 

County, Missouri, four miles northwest of the village of 
Smithville. 

IN MEMORY OF HUMPHRE^Y SMITH. 

BORN, 1774; DIED, 1857, 

"Like leaves on the trees, the race of man has found: 
How green in j'oiith, now withering on the ground. 

So generations in their course decay; 

So perish these, when tliose liave passed away." 

This patriot came to Missouri in 1816 from the State of 
New York, and labored to make that territory a free State, 
for which he was mobbed by armed slave-holders; scourged, 
bruised and dragged at midnight from his house. His ever- 
faithful wife, coming to his assistance, received injuries at 
the hands of the mob which caused her years of affliction 
and the loss of one eye. 

He was compelled to leave the State. His family fled 
from Howard County to Carroll County, and he, joining 
them there, they moved to Clay County, where for many 
years he kept up the struggle against the negro thieves or 
man-stealers. They denounced him as an Abolitionist, be- 
cause he was in favor of human liberty for all. His request 
was "Never let the nigger thieves know where I am buried 
until my State is free; then write my epitaph: 

" 'Here lies Humphrey Smith, who was in favor of hu- 
man rights, universal liberty, equal and exact justice; no 
union with slave-holders; free States, free people, union of 
States and one universal Republic' " 

Tuesday, May 5th, 1857, closed the eighty-third year of 
the life of a remarkable man. "Having wrapped the drapery 



20 

of his couch around him, he laid down to pleasant dreams." 

M}' mother was a Connecticut woman, in early life raised 
in Vermont. She possessed a fair education, and was a 
woman of much policy. She was a hard-working woman and 
raised eight children; spinning and weaving, and cutting and 
making the clothes for her family, besides the cooking and 
the washing. She seldom hired any help until past middle 
age. She died at the age of 70 years and is buried in Dal- 
las County, Iowa, on Coon River. Late in life she became a 
doctor by practice, and midwife, and was an Allopath under 
the reformed practice, rejecting the Cook-calomel practice, 
and her work was successful. No other doctor could take 
her practice from her — always some one waiting for her to go 
with them. She assisted the poor, giving medicine and cloth- 
ing to the needy. Society lost a friend when she died, as 
did her husband and children. She was a Methodist for a 
long period of her life and later a member of the Christian 
church. 

On a neat tombstone in the cemetery at Wiscotta, Dallas 
County, Iowa, you will find this inscription: 

IN MEMORY OF NANCY WALKKR SMITH. 

BORN, 1783; DIKD, 1853. 

"Cuuuecticut gave her life; New York a liusbaud (Ilumplirej' Sniilh); 
Missoui'i a homo and ei^ht children; Iowa, a grave." 



CHAPTER IV. 
Childhood Recollections of 1817. 
Having stated in brief a sketch of my life and family re- 
lations, I feel at liberty to note some personal incidents of 
minor interest. 

My first recollections were early in the spring of 1817, in 
Howard County, Missouri, where we lived the first winter 
we were in the State, in a rented house belonging to David 
Magill. An old cow called Tide would come to the door 
mornings after her slop. Another: It was a year of mad 
wolves. That winter a dog, mistaken for a mad wolf by the 
women and children, appeared before our house. Isaac 
Groom, a neighbor youth of 14 years, ran into our house, 
got father's gun, and, resting it upon a sled, shot the dog. A 
cat that had licked some of the blood was killed to prevent 
its going mad. 

I remember David Magill, a boy of thirteen, who had a 
top and stuck it in a crack in the back part of the house 
beside a chinking. His sister, Sallie, who was ten years of 
age, discovered me with the top, and took it from me after 
cufiing my ears and pulling my hair. Of course I fought and 
cried, but this stuck to me for all time. 

In May, 1817, when I was about three years and three 
months old, I well remember these incidents. Father was 
building our new home on public land, then called Con- 
gress Land. It was on a public road about a mile from 
where we were living. This road was the one leading from 
old Franklin, Howard County, to St. Charles, Missouri, in 
Howard County, now the Columbia road to Boonville. While 
he was engaged in the building of the house, making boards 
to cover the log house, mother sent my older brother George 
to take a dinner to my father. 



22 

George persuaded me to go with him, and on the way I 
gave out, after walking something over half way, so George 
took me on his back and carried me, resting occasionally. 
We arrived in good time, and after a good rest father eat his 
lunch and then we started for home. We played along the 
road occasionally and rested at times. An old goose and 
a half-dozen goslings ran along ahead of us, and I caught 
one as a curiosity and as a trophy. Isaac Groom, the boy 
who had shot the mad dog, was near us on a large black 
stallion. He rushed on to us boys; I fell down and cried. 
My brothers made their escape, but I was headed off. The 
horse squealed and snorted. Then a young man, Caleb Ma- 
gill, stepped up and forced Groom to desist. Groom, being 
fierce and a bad boy, swore he would ride over Magill, who 
was eighteen or twenty years old. He started whipping 
his horse and ran against Magill, so Magill picked up a 
four-cornered block, threw it at Groom, cut a hole through 
his hat and through the skin to the skullbone. Then Isaac 
Groom swore he would whip Magill when he got to be a 
man. This incident was renewed thirty years later, so Ma- 
gill told me, but was never settled in full. 

The year 1818 is more of a lost history to me, but the 
year of 1819 made much history. On the fourth day of Jan- 
uary my brother Damon was born, and many vivid circum- 
stances come to my mind of that happy day to my father 
and mother. Then in April of that year I fell down in a 
foot race and broke my thigh bone. This was the year of 
the Government land sales at old Franklin in Howard Coun- 
ty, Missouri. The territory elected delegates to form a 
State Government, There were two pronounced parties — 
Pro-Slavery and Free State. A war of extermination was 
waged by the Pro-Slavery party. 



Nick Buckheart, our neighbor, was a candidate for the 
convention for the people. He was a man of considerable 
ability on the Pro-Slavery side, so it was reported, so father, 
Humphrey Smith, assumed to call on Buckheart to know 
his position on the slave issue. Buckheart lived with his 
father, who was a Baptist preacher of the Gospel. The son 
Nick was a deacon in the church. The call was made early 
in the morning, soon after breakfast. 

So the ball opened by Smith saying to Buckheart: "How 
are you on the slavery question, Mr. Buckheart?" Buck- 
heart answered that he was in favor of a slave State, and 
would do all he could to secure that end, if elected. So 
the slave question was fully discussed for freedom and slav- 
ery. The subject ran its regular course, and after all the 
appeals in favor of freedom had been made by Smith and 
failing to get any encouragement from Buckheart, Smith 
quoted the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would 
others should do to you." Buckheart replied: "Smith, you 
do not understand the Golden Rule. It is this: if I say to 
you, 'Smith, kill me,' and you don't do it, and I kill you that 
is the Golden Rule." 

Smith replied: "Buckheart, I am surprised that a man 
of your pretensions to education, honor and standing in so- 
ciety would be guilty of treason, perjury and blasphemy." 

•Buckheart raised up his hand and brought it down on 
his thigh, saying: "Smith, I'll be damned to hell if I thank 
any man to talk such stuflf in my house," getting up at the 
same time and going out of doors. There was no other 
person in the house at that moment. Smith took up his 
hat and walked out of doors meeting the old preacher of 
the Gospel. 

The old man said: "I thought I would bring in some 



24 

wood as it is rather cool." The parties never met again. 

Smith was mobbed and driven from the territory, and 
Buckheart was elected. Then followed the Missouri ques- 
tion, the Free State men fled the territory and half of 
them never returned. Dick Gentry killed Colonel Carroll, 
who was a candidate for Congress on the Free State ticket, 
met him on the highway and shot him ofif his horse. No at- 
tention was paid to this murder. This all occurred in How- 
ard County, Missouri, where hell was turned loose for a 
season. 



25 

: CHAPTER V. 

A Night Attack. 
Ten or fifteen days after the Buckheart visit about fif- 
teen or twenty men came about ten o'clock one night to 
Humphrey Smith's house and hid behind the back part of 
the log cabin. One of them came to the door, and, after 
knocking said that he wished to stay over for the night with 
a horse. Father got up but protested that he had no room. 
The man said he would stop, stable, or not, even if he had 
to tie his horse to a tree. Father was standing just outside 
of the door on a high step, and he said: "Well, I will go and 
get you a rope." As he turned to go after the rope the 
stranger caught him by the wrist and jerked him, heels over 
head, out and down on the ground. As they both fell the 
mob behind the house rushed out and commenced with 
young hickory sprouts, two or three years old, flagulating 
Smith. Fifteen or twenty of them made welts, and made the 
blood fly. Dragging Smith down to the yard fence about 
forty yards they still laid on the cudgels. One man was 
holding Smith by the arm, keeping his head down so that 
the others could strike him. Smith's faithful wife, hearing 
the shrieks and oaths, ran down to the fence, where the mob 
had gotten over and were trying to pull Smtih over. Mrs. 
Smith grabbed up a long swinging block and threw it over 
the fence, hitting the man who was holding Smith and knock- 
ing him down. Smith, finding himself loose, ran, and the fel- 
low jumped the fence and ran after Smith. Mrs. Smith 
jumped in his way. The man then grabbed Smith's shirt, 
but as it tore oflf, Smith escaped. The ruffian was so 
angry that he struck Mrs. Smith over the head with such 
force that the cudgel was bent. He knocked out Mrs. 
Smith's eye and mashed a large brass comb she wore. I 



26 

well recollect the night, though it is many years ago. Mother 
Smith had a sore eye as long as she lived. It would beal and 
break, and at times she could see a little, and then would 
close entirely and run matter. For thirty-four years she 
suffered from this until her death. These Jubolas, Jubolums 
and Jubolems' fight over, the men retired to an elevated 
piece of ground, about 250 yards away, and then, with de- 
moniac oaths, ordered Smith to leave the territory in three 
days or he should die. Tom Arnold, of Franklin, was the 
leader of this mob. 



27 

CHAPTER VI. 

Insured to Live a Century. 
When Humphrey Smith had gone to foreign lands, in 
the fall of 1819, Mrs. Smith and her children left Howard 
County and went to Carroll County. Humphrey Smith came 
to the same place late in November, but had no supplies for 
the winter. In 1822 the Smith family went to Clay County, 
the northwest part, now Smithville. Humphrey built those 
noted saw and grist mills in 1824. 

Now that the Missouri question was settled and Mis- 
souri was a slave State, Humphrey Smith was notoriously 
known as "Yankee" Smith. He had many enemies, especial- 
ly among the slave-holders. Smith still stuck to his prin- 
ciples, and had many hard struggles and personal conflicts. 
Now eighty years have passed, and all have gone to the 
unknown. Humphrey Smith's desire not to have his epitaph 
written until his country was free was complied with, and 
it was not until after that had occurred that it was inscribed 
on a slab stone in Piatt County, Missouri, five miles north- 
west of Smithville. The epitaph, which speaks for itself, is 
given in another part of this. 

From 1822, for forty years I made headway in life. Most 
of the time my nearest neighbor was eight miles away; the 
school privileges were poor, indeed. I boarded out, and at- 
tended the proverbial log school house. The country soon 
settled up. I was a farmer, merchant and postmaster for 
forty years. 

In 1849 or thereabouts I united with the Christian 
Church. When I went to Valley Falls, Kansas, in 1862, I 
united with the church there. 

Upon reaching Kansas City, Mo., I took a letter and 
united with the church in that city. 



28 

On the 13th of April, 1902, I united with the church in 
Des Moines, Iowa, and am now a member of the same 
church in Kansas City, Mo. 

I took the temperance pledge about fifty years ago, and 
have kept it. I never drank to excess at any time pre- 
vious to taking the pledge. I voted to make the State of 
Kansas a prohibition State in her altered Constitution. 
About twenty years ago I took a volunteer pledge, by ad- 
vice of Dr. G. B. Hanawalt, my nephew, of Des Moines, 
Iowa, not to chew tobacco or smoke. He said if I would 
obey this pledge that he would insure me to live 100 years. 
I have pledged myself to this now. I never did chew to- 
bacco, but I did smoke cigars moderately. So here I am 
now, with about eight years to make out my hundred years, 
in reasonable good health and still keeping the pledge. 



29 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Border Rueeian War. 

During the border ruffian war in Kansas in 1856 I took 
over about 100 head of cattle to graze on Slough Creek, 
Jefferson County, Kansas. I left them in- care of Colonel 
Henry Owens. The struggle was so fierce between the Free 
State men and the Pro-Slavery men that the colonel and 
his family came back to Clay County to wait a more pacific 
time before returning to Kansas. In August Colonel Owens 
and myself went to Kansas to look after the cattle. The 
stock was scattered all over the prairies. The country was 
much agitated by the raids of freebooters of both parties. 
We first became prisoners by being captured by Colonel 
Harvey, a leading and determined Free State man and the 
right bower of James H. Lane, afterwards United States 
Senator. Harvey had about sixty-five earnest men, eight 
or ten of whom we were well acquainted with. 

After a full and free explanation Colonel Harvey direct- 
ed that we should return to Oscaloosa, Kansas, which we did 
the same day, stopping at Old Man Stags, or near his resi- 
dence, where there were thirty-seven Alabamians returning 
from Lawrence. They, with others, had burned the Eldridge 
Hotel, and had as booty about forty horses and eight or ten 
wagonloads of plunder. 

Right here I wish to say that Colonel Harvey was load- 
ed with thirty or forty horses and eight or ten wagonloads 
of plunder, he having robbed all the stores on Stranger 
River for twenty-five miles up and down— Pro-Slavery store- 
keepers, of course. The two parties were about fifteen miles 
apart, but had no knowledge of each other's positions. 

Now was my time, I being opposed to the border ruf- 
fian invasion of the territory, and really in favor of the 



30 

Free State party. We (Colonel Owens and myself) visited 
the ruffians' camp just at dusk of evening. 

Old Dr. Jesse Newel, living in Oscaloosa town, one mile 
and a half away, came along as he was returning from Osau- 
kie, where he had been on business. I took him to one side, 
knowing him to be a strong Free State man from Oscaloosa, 
Mahasky County, Iowa. Knowing him to be a stout-hearted, 
determined man, who would fight, I told him of Colonel 
Harvey's position, and what he was doing, and suggested 
he send his son, John Newel, to advise Colonel Harvey of 
this border ruffian outfit and camp. 

Dr. Newel at first rather flinched, saying if such a thing 
was found out on him, that he would be murdered by the 
Pro-Slavery party. I assured him of my true friendship, so, 
after pledging our Masonic honors, as Free and Accepted 
Masons do when danger might be expected. Dr. Newel left 
for home. 

John Newel, his son, was soon on the road after Col- 
onel Harvey, fifteen miles away. When he reached within 
seven miles of the camp, at Bill Butler's stage office, Har- 
vey's scouts took in young Newel on the right way. It was 
Harvey's picket guard, he having moved on eight miles to- 
ward Lawrence, where their headquarters were located. The 
bugle soon gave the call to boots and spurs. By three A. M. 
Colonel Harvey and his brigade were at Oscaloosa, and only 
one and a half miles away the enemy lay in quiet, sound 
sleep. 

Colonel Harvey and men shotted their guns and ad- 
vanced in battle form, close up to the sleeping foe, the Col- 
onel at the head. The picket, or, rather, camp-guard, was sit- 
ting down, nodding, and the Colonel said to him: "Hand me 
your gun." With that the guard fired, cutting off the little 



finger of Colonel Harvey. Harvey's whole platoon fired, or 
part did, overshooting the sleeping foe. Surrender, sur- 
render from sixty-five conquerors was demanded. Three or 
four were wounded slightly, one severely shot through the 
back of the neck and partially paralyzed. He was a Virgin- 
ian by birth, Pro-Slavery in views. 

Day was breaking when the writer and Colonel Henry 
Owen fled to the brush near by, half naked. The yard was 
picketed by Free State men, but we were permitted to go. 
We soon found that the battle was over, and that a surrender 
had been made. By 9 A. M. Colonel Harvey lined up his 
prisoners, paroled them and sent them on, where they had 
pretended they were going, to Hickory Point, six miles 
north, thence to Kickapoo, Kansas, near Fort Leavenworth, 
30 miles east. 

The Colonel retained all the spoils, including 40 or 50 
horses and eight or ten wagons loaded with plunder. The 
Pro-Slavery men had taken these when at Lawrence, at the 
same time that they burned the Eldridge Hotel. He also 
secured all of their guns, ammunition, blankets, etc. Colonel 
Harvey and his company were soon on their way to Law- 
rence, 25 miles away. 

At Hickory Point a Pro-Slavery camp was stationed so 
those recruits fell in with their confederate friends. They 
were mad clean through, many of them being half-naked and 
naturally ready for another fight. The Free State men gath- 
ered around Colonel James H. Lane, who came on the 
ground with new forces and suppHes. Colonel Harvey heard 
of the battle coming on and retired with blood in his eye. 
The third day after that Hickory Point was fortified by the 
border ruffians and neighboring Pro-Slavery men in the 
country round for ten to twelve miles, and a regular siege 



32 

was started. As Hickory Point was on level ground, with 
nothing but the level prairies stretching for many miles, strat- 
egy was the next resort of the Free State men. A wagon 
loaded with baled hay was run backward up against the 
blacksmith shop and fire was started. The besieged men 
fired under the backing wagon, hitting the legs of the Free 
.State men. They ran ofif and left the wagon, so the Pro- 
Slavery men shot wads of tow, saturated with gunpowder, 
and burned the wagon and hay. After three days' siege both 
parties were out of provisions and whisky, shot and ammuni- 
tion, so white flags were sent out. A compromise was 
made, and another keg of whisk}'- drank. Friends drew up 
a contract that the border ruffians and Jim Lane's Chicago 
stubs were to leave the territory; the settlers were to go 
home, irrespective of party, and to keep the peace. All sign- 
ed this. Colonel Harvey started for Lawrence, and after go- 
ing about ten miles camped for the night. About eight 
o'clock that night Colonel Sumner, with United States sol- 
diers from Fort Leavenworth, made the sixty-five men pris- 
oners. Quince Grason, a traveling man, had been the guide 
for the soldiers. During the arrest one of the United States 
soldiers was killed, but this was an accident. Next morn- 
ing Colonel Harvey produced the compromise which had 
been signed by both factions, so Colonel Sumner turned 
them all loose. Thus the war was ended north of the Kaw 
River, although old John Brown was operating in South- 
east Kansas. 

My position and what I did caused the border ruffians to 
watch me Avhen the great rebellion came, knowing that I 
would tell where their places were. 



33 

CHAPTER VIII. 
NoTSD Mm I Met up to Time oe the Civil War. 
I will now tell of a few of the noted men I knew per- 
sonally from the time of my childhood up to the great civil 
war. In 1816 I recollect in the town of Franklin, then the 
county seat of Howard County, Mo., there lived Colonel 
Dick Gentry, a leading man in society and politics. In 1819 
Colonel Carroll, of St. Louis, Mo., was a candidate as dele- 
gate to Congress from the territory of Missouri. Colonel 
Carroll came up through Missouri, electioneering for Con- 
gress on the Free State ticket. He stopped at Franklin and 
went out to Fort Hemstead, now Fayette, the county seat 
of Howard County. That evening Richard Gentry went out 
a few miles on the road toward Fort Hemstead, waiting at 
the forks of a road until he saw Carroll coming along the 
road. Gentry then shot Carroll dead. Gentry was a rabid 
Pro-Slavery man, and nothing was done in the way of prose- 
cution. After this Colonel Dick Gentry never could gain 
political office, as he was a marked man. In 1835 he raised 
a regiment of volunteers and went to the war in Florida. At 
the battle of Okochobee he gained much credit as a brave 
man, but was killed at the end of the battle. 

I knew many of his soldiers, and one man named Bat- 
tle, who lived in CHnton County, Mo., was also killed in this 
battle. When Battle fell wounded he called for water, and al- 
though the volunteers had fallen back John Engarard heard 
the wails for water. He swore that a comrade should not die 
for want of water, and although contrary to orders, he said: 
"Orders or no orders, he would get a dying man water." 
And he did, and after that put Battle on his shoulder and 
brought him back to the lines. Battle died a few moments 
after. 



34 

Nick Buckheart was a delegate to the convention that 
made Missouri a State, and I knew both him and his fam- 
ily well. Nick ran on the Pro-Slavery ticket. 

I knew Judge Arixson, of Howard County, Mo., who 
about the year 1816 was a wealthy farmer, speculator and 
contractor. His son-in-law, Colonel Tarlton Turner, was 
also a rich man and had large contracts for surveying. 
His parents were Tories in the revolutionary war. He was 
named after Colonel Tarlton, of the Red Coats, of the bat- 
tle of Cowpens, in North Carolina. Colonel Tarlton Tur- 
ner's father had died before the revolutionary war was over, 
hence the Government could not confiscate his estate. For 
the part taken by his relatives in that war Tarlton Turner 
was ostracized by society. 

When the war of 1812 broke out Tarlton Turner, feeling 
that the Turner family must do something to redeem their 
name, raised a regiment of 1000 men at his own expense, 
costing him thirty thousand dollars. He went to Washington 
and presented them, ready for service, to President Madison. 
The President accepted the men and appointed Tarlton Tur- 
ner colonel of the regiment. They fought through the war 
with honor, and after it was over Colonel Tarlton Turner 
received many big contracts from the Government. I knew 
him personally and often heard he and my father talk over 
the war of 1812, he coming to our house frequently to buy 
stock from my father. 

I knew Colonel Thomas H. Benton and heard him make 
many speeches. I approved of his services in the United 
States Senate, and in his latter terms Benton was a great 
statesman. Some said he was a leader of a party without 
principle. If that be so he changed his prmciples or party, 



35 

for he opposed the repeal of the Missouri compromise and 
other measures. 

I knew Colonel A. W. Doniphan for twenty years, and 
was impressed with his noted campaign in old Mexico. I 
also knew many of his volunteer soldiers. I was also well 
acquainted with Senator David R. Atchison, knowing him for 
many years. I also knew Willard P. Hall, Governor of Mis- 
souri. 

For many years I was a personal friend of Colonel Loane, 
afterwards General Loane and Congressman. He was the 
man that delivered the celebrated speech, the keynote of 
which was "a rebel had no rights which a Union man 
should respect." 

I knew General Atkinson, of the United States army, 
the hero of 1814, at the battle of Rock Island, on the Up- 
per Mississippi. In 1823 he visited Smithville while on a 
tour of inspection to Council Blufifs. He had about twenty 
soldiers with him. The same year Major Foster, from 
Council Blufifs, visited our house. He had his wife and 
daughter with him. Joseph Roubideaux, the founder of St. 
Joseph, visited us in the same year. He was on his way to 
the Upper Missouri River, trapping and trading. 

I also knew Gene Ashley, who took a party of 130 men 
through the mountains of Oregon and British America. 
While on one of these trapping trips he had been robbed by 
British fur traders, and he was pursued through California. 
Ashley afterwards went to St. Louis, married a young 
woman and went to Congress. He stopped at our house 
once, and something that impressed itself on my memory 
was the fact that my father sold him a beef steer. 

I knew Colonel Sam Owens, of Independence, Mo., well, 
and of course knew thousands of business men, for I was 
engaged in mercantile business for over forty years at Smith- 



30 

ville, Mo. I ran the valuable mills that my father had built 
there. They were built in 1824, and have been burned down 
twice. 

I knew hundreds of eminent lawyers, doctors, Judges 
and wealthy farmers, and, being an active business man, 
I was brought into personal contact with them. Of the 
founders of the town of Smithville and its mills I am the only 
one left. 



Z7 

CHAPTER IX. 
The Opening oe the Civil War. 

At this late date I start in to write a recollection of the 
late civil war. The secessionist slave-holders of the slave 
States said: "A Southern slave-holder with Southern views 
should be elected President of the United States, or there 
would come a separation of the States." There were a num- 
ber of candidates — Mr. Abraham Lincoln, on the Republican 
ticket; Stephen A. Douglass, Democrat; Bell and Everett, 
Whig, and Breckenridge, Secesh Democrat and Disunion- 
ist. It looked like a forlorn hope. At the election the 
Judge, Thomas J. Gunn, chairman of the Board of Electors, 
said to Smith, "We have no electors entered on our poll- 
books for Abraham Lincoln, but if you wish we will place 
electors on the book that you may vote j^our sentiments." 
I replied: "I was long an old-time Whig, and would vote 
for Bell and Everett on the Whig ticket." I was fully aware 
of the fact that the great Whig party had added a plank of 
Freedom to their great protective tarifif principle. 

On or about the last of Decem.ber, i860, there was a 
meeting at the school house in Smithville. I happened to 
be out of town that day. The meeting was at 8 P. M., and 
I got home about 7, and was eating my supper when a dele- 
gation came after me from the political meeting. I sus- 
pected a "hen on," but I went, under protest from my wife. 

There had been much street talk on secession, Mr. 
"Abe" Lincoln having been elected President for four years, 
commencing March 4, 1861. When I reached the school 
house, in which the town meeting was being held, it seemed 
as if all were awaiting my arrival. I was called to the speak- 
ers' stand at once, having been told that South Carolina had 
seceded and gone out of the Union. I made a short ad- 
dress. I said that I had often been fishing in streams of 



38 

water and saw chub fish jump out of the water, but they 
fell back soon. I also said that history told us that no 
nation that dealt in slaves lived long. The Pharoahs failed, 
also the Babylonians, while the slaves of Rome burnt her 
up, after slaughtering old and young. Age had been no ex- 
cuse for sparing life. The South had the Grecian horse of 
slavery in her borders, and I looked upon this movement as 
a bluflf for more territory for the extension of slavery. I 
was for peace and the Union as it is, with no change. 

This roused a few to say it was the duty of every man to 
stand firm for Southern rights, but the majority said that 
we, of the border, had best be quiet. 

Shortly after this the "Secesh" raised a company of 84 
mounted horse guards to resist Lincoln soldiers. Colonel 
Cramer, in Northern Missouri, had raised a regiment and 
was bearing down on St. Joseph. Robert Fleming, a Union 
man, called for volunteers as home guards. I joined the 50 
or 60 men, all of whom were unarmed. Captain Theodore 
Duncan, of the Mounted Rebels (for that was just what they 
were), sent his adjutant with a written notice to Captain Bob 
Fleming to dismiss his men or he would charge on them 
with horse. Fleming read the notice to his men and said 
that without arms we could do nothing before these mount- 
ed and sabred cavalrymen, so let us adjourn until armed. So 
mote it be. 

Next the Secesh robbed the United States Arsenal at 
Liberty, taking cannon, small arms and an immense amount 
of powder and other accoutrements of war. They stored 
much of this between Liberty and St. Joseph, and also in 
the vicinity of Smithville. 

Then the Union forces drove the rebels out of St. Jos- 
eph and also Clay County, but the rebs failed to take many 
of the stolen arms that they had hidden. 



39 

CHAPTER X. 

Pete Lizar's Sister-in-Law's Pension. 
As exciting news came the town of Smithville was ablaze 
with excitement. After President Lincoln took his seat, in 
Washington, daily meetings were held to talk politics, and 
about the war. "Secesh" men were organizing companies 
everywhere, and at all these meetings I stood out for the 
Union. 

On April i, 1861, President Lincoln issued an order that 
no disloyal man should receive any public money. All would 
have to take the oath of loyalty before they could receive 
any pay or have any recognition of any claim. 

One day in came Pete Lizar, a neighbor, and he said to 
me, "Smith, my sister-in-law, who is a widow, lost her 
husband from the injuries he received in the Mexican war 
and we all think her claim is good for a pension." 

Being in that business I listened to the facts as he told 
them and then said: "Yes, there will be no trouble to get a 
pension for her. Bring your sister-in-law here to-morrow 
morning, and I will have all the papers ready. Bring along 
at least two witnesses who know of the facts." 

He said: "I can bring a dozen witnesses if you want 
them." 

I replied: "The more the better, but Uncle Peter, the law 
requires all claimants and witnesses to be Union men and 
women. No secessionists can have a hearing or have a 
claim allowed." 

Lizar said: "We are all for the Union, of course we 
are." 

Now in my heart I knew I had scored much for my- 
self, the neighborhood and the Union, for all these were 
rough fighting men and must be, if possible, on the side of 



40 

the Union, The next day all of a dozen of Lizar's sons, 
nephews and friends came with the widow to prove her 
claim. I had the papers already for signature and made 
each one take an oath of allegiance to the Union. A Jus- 
tice of the Peace took the acknowledgments, and I hurried 
ofi. to Liberty to have the county seal attached. Then I 
wrote a long letter to the pension agent of the importance 
of having early action on this, as all of these parties were of 
much interest to the Union, as in .our section Union men 
seemed to be in the minority. I wanted to hold all that I 
could for the Union, and as these men were of fighting 
stock I had all confidence in the pledges they had taken. 

In about ten days the petition papers came back, allow- 
ing twelve dollars a month, I think. However, the Lizar 
boys were soon Union soldiers and took part in many bat- 
tles. One was shot in the eye and the bullet came out at 
the back of his head, for which he received a pension, and 
another one was shot in the throat, but recovered. Lizar 
himself went to the front with his nephews. I claim some 
credit for this. 



I 41 ' 

CHAPTER XI. 

Lincoln's Proclamation for a Day of Prayer. 

In the meantime President Lincoln had proclaimed a 
day of solemn prayer for the preservation of the Union. At 
our church in Smithville a crowd thronged from morning 
until late evening. Late in the afternoon I ventured in. 
Brother Alex. Duncan noted my presence and called me up. 
After some waiting the calls came rapidly and I arose and 
made a short speech, saying in short that "you have called 
the powers that be a renegade party of abolitionists seeking 
to destroy the South and her institutions, and that murder 
and rapine is the end and aim. I say to you this violation 
of the Federal compact is a Southern move to break the 
Union, unite with Mexico and Central America for a grand 
despotic oligarchy." This caused hisses, and some left 
the house. I was alone. I had shown my hand, and I added, 
"Yes, gentlemen, before September these streets will be 
tramped by dragoon, horse and rattling saber." 

The rebels congregated on the south side of the Mis- 
souri River on the Little Blue, where they were stampeded. 
Captain Theodore Duncan was killed and his company re- 
turned to Smithville temporarily demoralized. A camp of 
instruction was formed to collect the scattered forces. The 
battle of Springfield was fought, then Carthage. Mulligan 
surrendered at Lexington; confusion reigned in many places. 

Judge Leonard and Senator David R. Atchison had left 
St. Joseph, also Colonel Boyd, with two or three skeletons 
of rebel regiments for Southern Missouri to join Price, the 
great leader in this section of the "Secesh" army. Many 
returning rebels went into the brush and continued to wage 
independent war in many places in Piatt, Clay, Clinton and 
Ray counties. I was watching the movement. Colonel Boyd 



42 

said I was a dangerous man in the rear and proposed to 
take me South, but by this time the Southern sympathizers 
at home wanted to court friendship with Union men, and Dr. 
Robinson and Colonel Lewis Wood, noted Secessionists, told 
Colonel Boyd and other passing Confederates to leave me 
alone or otherwise the Southern sympathizers at home would 
be destroyed by the Union soldiers. 

Now I wrote to St. Joseph, the Union forces having 
gotten possession of that city and also of the Hannibal-St. 
Joseph Railroad. That report of mine brought the Sixteenth 
Illinois Regiment down on a raid through Buchanan, Platte 
and the southern part of Clay County to Liberty, and back 
to St. Joseph through Smithville over the route taken by the 
rebels at the time they left Liberty after raiding the arsenal 
there. I pointed out the places where the hidden arms and 
ammunition lay and a half dozen wagon loads were gathered 
up. On this raid one Union soldier was killed at Platte City 
by a rebel sharp-shooter in ambush. 

It was claimed the Union soldiers made a successful 
campaign in the matter of booty. Every house was searched 
for arms, which was taken when found, and all horses and 
mules were confiscated if it was suspicioned they had been 
used for rebel purposes; this resulted in a grand haul and 
the Union soldiers were loaded with booty. Many citizens 
followed to prove their loyalty and recover their goods. I 
was under requisition to help many, which I did. Preston 
Aker lost $500 to $800 worth of clothing and other mer- 
chandise; some of it was recovered, but the most was lost. 



43 
' CHAPTER XII. 

My Letter to Gener.\l Prentiss. 
An Iowa regiment, on its way down from Pittsburgh, 
got into an engagement at Blue Mill Landing, Clay County. 
About ten men were killed and fifteen or twently, who were 
wounded, were left at William Jewell College in Liberty. 
This Iowa regiment returned to Smithville and then went to 
Kansas City, thence to Leavenworth and on to St. Joseph. 
They helped themselves to all the horses they could i^nd on 
their travels. The regiment was in command of Colonel 
Scott, of Des Moines, afterward Governor or Lieutenant 
Governor of Iowa. Then Major Joseph came down from 
St. Joseph, through Plattsburg to Piatt City. 

He was seeking Cy Gordon, a desperate "Secesh," who 
had organized a party from Todd's Creek and other places. 
Major Joseph's party made a halt in Smithville. At Platte 
City they captured a hundred or more prisoners and thought 
they had Cy Gordon, so the major made me separate the 
citizens from those he had charges against. 

You see now I was noted for my position, all knew I 
was guiding the Union soldiers. I released most of the pris- 
oners from the court house the first night. Mr. Paxton was 
among those corralled in the court house. He called me 
and said his mill would run empty and wished me to have 
him released at once that he might attend to his mill. I 
did so at once. He told me Cy Gordon was in the court 
house, a prisoner. Gordon had killed several Union men 
and Major Joseph would have hanged him on the spot. Pax- 
ton knew this. I begged him to point Cy Gordon out to me, 
but he refused, saying the rebels would burn his mill in less 
than a week if he did so. After all, Gordon made his escape 
and shot several Union pickets that night. 



44 

Now by this time things were at fever heat. By the last 
of November or first of December returning rebels were 
thick everywhere, raising new recruits for Price's army 
which was camped on the Osage River ten or twenty thou- 
sand strong. 

In Liberty Captain James Ford and Captain James 
Moore each had companies of 60 men camped in the court 
house square. At the old Judy place five miles south of 
Smithville were commissary stores. The war spirit was up. 

This was my time. I knew it all. I had several horses 
stolen and cattle killed. I wanted to have all the rebels 
swept from the north side of Missouri River, killed or im- 
prisoned. I sat down one morning and made a list of every 
enemy in the country, naming each and giving their location, 
also naming the rebel camps and how many quartermaster 
stores were collecting for General Price's army south of the 
Missouri River. I had previously sent in a partial report to 
St. Joseph by mail, but fearing it might have miscarried I 
made this other report. I advised General Prentiss to push 
on down to Smithville and Liberty, and to lose no time. 
The "Secesh" thought it was best to start me out of the coun- 
try and violently attacked me one night. Knives and weights 
were in requisition, but luckily no one was hurt. This 
pitched battle was for my benefit. It was led by Dr. Patton. 

Coming back to my eight-page report: I spent most of 
the day on it. Then I was frightened. I dare not trust it in 
the mails, for if intercepted it meant death for me. So 
I took it out the back way into the orchard and covered it 
over as a lion would his uneaten dinner, then innocently 
went down town contemplating the future. I peered down 
the long stretching street and saw a Mr. Hutchens, a true 
blue Union man, coming into town. I advanced to meet him 



45 

and after salutation told him my troubles and determination 
and of my buried report and its contents in part, of which 
the main object was to destroy those rebel camps and stores. 
Hutchens said: "Smith, I am going to St. Joseph to-night," 
and I replied that was just the thing, as I feared the mails. 
I went at once and got my report and he slipped it in his 
pocket and went home. The next night General Prentiss 
occupied comfortable quarters in my home and four thou- 
sand soldiers camped in and around Smithville. General 
Prentiss had received my first letter, sent by mail, and acted 
on its advice. 

His coming to Smithville was entirely unexpected and 
he drove the seceders to the south in front of him and took 
a number of prisoners who were confined in my storehouse. 
Among the crowd of prisoners was old Bill Byrd, a man of 
seventy-two. I took pity on the old man, I know not why, 
and appealed to the general to let him go. Out of gratitude 
for what I had done this was agreed to and Byrd was 
brought into the house to be questioned. As the general 
interrogated the old prisoner he learned something of the 
old man's relations and found to his surprise that Billy 
Byrd and he were full cousins. The scene was a pathetic 
one, a Northern general and a Southern prisoner embrac- 
ing, and both in tears. The general soon regained his dig- 
nity and said that he was going to show no favors to rela- 
tives, and that if he released him it would only be on ac- 
count of Smith asking for it and because of his gratitude to 
Smith. The old man pleaded to be given his team and to be 
released. After a few moments' consideration the general 
told him to go home and he would send his team later by 
Byrd's two boys, who were also prisoners. 

The court-martial was a trying one for Smith. All of 



46 

the prisoners were taken to the Court House in the county 
seat of Clay County, which was Liberty. As each neighbor 
was arraigned Smith was asked to pronounce him a "Union" 
or "Secesh" man. 

A long time afterwards I heard from Hutchens how he 
had taken the dispatches. It seems after taking my report he 
had gone to his home a half mile in the country, and after 
dark returned to Smithville and went out to Eleven Thatch- 
er's farm two miles south of town, got in his barn and found 
a new saddle and bridle in a tub of wheat. He clapped the 
saddle onto a five-year-old horse, worth (the owner de- 
clared) $175, and rode down through Smithville, just at day- 
break. That morning 22 miles out, at the crossing of a small 
stream called Maiden, Hutchens was halted by General Pren- 
tiss' pickets and declaring that he was the bearer of dis- 
patches for the commanding general he was taken to that 
officer's tent, where orders were given that he and his horse 
be fed. This was done, and Hutchens went on to St. Joseph 
and crossed the river to Elwood, Kansas, where he sold the 
horse, saddle and bridle for $140. This money he brought 
home and gave to his wife, who had five little children. He 
then went to Weston, in Platte County, and enlisted in the 
Union service, participating later in the battle of Donald- 
sonville, at Shilo and at Pittsburg Landing, serving the term 
of his enlistment, and then came back. The Union soldiers 
had in the meantime taken his wife and children away, to 
Weston, I believe. 



47 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Prentiss Raid. 

From Smithville General Prentiss threw out two wings 
of his army; one went east and one south — the main force 
took the centre. They had taken 75 or 100 prisoners be- 
fore they reached Smithville and this last day's drag made an 
awful havoc among the rebels and their sympathizers. The 
prisoners were all taken to Liberty. I was sent for and a 
court-martial was called to dispose of their cases. The court- 
martial was held under turn key. 

The first night Prentiss' troops were in Smithville com- 
missary stores to the value of ten thousand dollars were 
taken, including horses and mules, and one man, Samuel 
Bodyston, was killed. He had been in the rebel army and 
would not halt when ordered to do so. Fifteen or twenty 
prisoners were also taken. I was blamed for this Union raid. 

In the court house square at Liberty General Prentiss' 
forces captured Captain James Ford and sixty men and 
Captain James Moore, ex-SherifT of Clay County, and sixty 
men, besides two hundred or more "Secesh" soldiers, many 
of whom had just returned from General Price's army which 
was encamped on the Osage River to the south of the Mis- 
souri. I had listed the most of these, so the Union general 
knew whom he had. At the court-martial I was advocate for 
the LTnion and upon my decision the prisoner would be set 
free or detained as the case might be. 

''What shall be done with this prisoner?" 

"Let him take the oath of loyalty and go home." 

"What shall be done with this one?" 

"Take him to Alton Penitentiary." 

"And what shall be done with this one?" 

"Let him give bonds for the faithful performance of his 
Union obligations." 



48 

And so on until the end, and the mourners' bench was 
full of penitents. 

The next day General Prentiss made a speech from the 
court house steps, declaring many of the truest Union men 
in the West were in Alissouri. "Yes, from your own midst, 
I knew of the 'Secesh' movements here before I left St. 
Joseph. Three days ago, in fact, I was fully advised as I 
came along of your names, and many of your residences were 
pointed out to me. Don't believe that you are a unit here; 
a strong Union element exists right in your midst and your 
movements are closely watched and reported to headquar- 
ters. You had better return to loyalty and cast away the 
idea of secession." And he added much more to his talk. 

Now Mat Miller, Ike McCarty and a half dozen other 
rebels took me out to one side and said to me the next day 
after the speech (Miller being the spokesman): "Smith, we 
heard Prentiss' speech yesterday. We don't know anybody 
smart enough to report the movement of the Southern army 
but you, and we know you are d — n rascal enough to do it, 
and we're going to have your scalp. We will have General 
Price send for it." 

As Woods said when he applied to General Jackson for 
a pardon and it was denied him: 'My grave appeared in 
view." I went immediately home and sent for Al Owens and 
told him I might have to go on an instant warning, and if 
so thought of going to Des Moines, Iowa, and for him to 
advise me of the secessionists' movements and to give me due 
and timely notice of the approach of the enemy. 

A few days later I was advised by John W. Duncan of 
the detail General Price had dispatched to arrest me. 



49 

CHAPTER XIV. 

How I Left. Smith ville. 

From information received by me I know that General 
Price's charges against me were; giving aid and comfort to 
the enemy in the field, assisting thereby the Union forces 
under command of General Prentiss in raiding the counties 
of Buchanan, Piatt and Clay, causing great loss to the South- 
ern army; also in giving aid and information to Major Jos- 
eph, of the Second Iowa, and to the Sixteenth Illinois, caus- 
ing death to many as well as great loss to private citizens, 
especially those of secession principles, and terrorizing the 
citizens in the name of serving the Union. The detail sent 
to efifect my arrest and removal to Price's camp left there 
on or about the lOth of December, 1861. John W. Duncan 
got a furlough and accompanied the squad as far as the Mis- 
souri River, but as the river was full of floating ice and 
there was a scarcity of boats the squad did not get across 
at once. Duncan's wife was sick and he left the party at the 
river, managed to get across and pushed on home, some 
hours ahead of Major Savory's squad. He found me at once 
after his arrival in Smithville and apprised me of my danger 
of arrest. The next morning, December 12, I left Smithville 
in a two-horse buggy, taking with me $2900 in Platte County 
Railroad bonds drawing 10 per cent, interest — worth all told 
$4600. 

A peculiar incident in connection with these bonds was 
the fact that they were practically lost for five years. Upon 
reaching Des Moines I went to Allen's Bank there to de- 
posit them. Mr. Allen was busy at the time and gave me no 
deposit slip or other receipt, simply laying the bundle up on 
top of the vault. I left the bank and five years later sent 
Colonel Henry Owen to the bank after them. Mr. Allen 



so 

denied any knowledge of the bonds, having forgotten my hav- 
ing been in the bank, nor having any recollection of the 
package. Colonel Owen told Mr. Allen that I had said that 
he (Allen) had laid the bonds up on top of the vault, and 
Allen reached up and brought them down, remarking: "Here 
they are now." The bonds vv^ere all there and had evidently 
not been moved since they were laid there five years pre- 
viously. 

Aly trip overland to Des Moines was a cold one, a snow 
storm meeting me on the way. I spent the greater part of 
the winter in Des Moines and then returned to Missouri. 
The war was still on, though the rebels had moved further 
south and Pea Ridge, near the southern line of the State, 
was the scene of activities. Donaldsonville and Pittsburg 
Landing, in Tennessee, were in the death struggles. So I 
had time to arrange my afTairs to leave the State permanent- 
ly, and this time I went to Kansas, arriving there July 24, 
1862, and remaining a resident of that State over twenty 

years, then moved to Kansas City with $20,000. 

When I left Missouri in 1862 for Valley Falls, Kansas, I 
owned 100 head of cattle, 35 mules and ten slaves, besides 
much household goods. I set the slaves free — they were 
valued in those days at $10,000. I also sacrificed and lost as 
much as $10,000 more. 

If I say it myself, I was a Union man and kept the army 
posted as to where the rebels were moving or skulking. 
My position was a central one, covering 35 to 50 miles of 
country, and I made good use of it for a year and a half, 
when I was compelled to leave the State the 24th day of July, 
1862. But I was long known to be a Clay Whig, opposed to 
the "border ruffian war" and the invasion of the territory 
of Kansas by armed ruffians. A Fremont Republican, op- 



51 

posed to secession. All ni)^ kin folks on both sides were 
Union. Many went to the front. 

At the end of the war, in 1865, the Union debt was three 
billion dollars, the Confederacy was bankrupt and four mil- 
lion slaves were free. 



52 

CHAPTER XV. 
Joining the Union League. 

In the spring of 1862 after my return from my Iowa 
exile to Smithville one day I thought I would go up to 
Ridgely, Platte County, Mo., six miles distant, where many 
active Union men lived. I saw many people there, mostly 
strangers, some of them carrying guns. 

One man, with a gun on his shoulder, walked up to me 
and said: "You are Mr. Smith, are you?" I said: "Yes." 
Then he said: "You are requested to come up to the hall." 

We started at once for the Old Masonic Lodge. We 
went up the outside stairs and at the top there was a soldier 
standing with a gun. There were a few questions, a knock 
on the door and then we entered. There was a large com- 
pany present. Benjamin Smithey was at the head of the table 
and Ephraim Fitzgerald at the other end. 

Smithey said: "Smith, we sent for you. This is a Union 
Lodge of loyal men who have found it necessary to organize 
and unite for the defense of the nation against its enemies, 
who are now in the field, rebellious, in fact. We are advised 
and know you to be a Union man and it is advisable to 
know each other on the highways. We have organized this 
Union Lodge, having a charter from the State Lodge of Mis- 
souri. If you will sign this roll and take the pledge or oath 
of loyalty you can be one of us." 

I signed and kneeled at the altar. The oath ran about 
this wise: "To defend the Government of the United States 
against all enemies, sacrificing property and life if neces- 
sary to preserve the Federal Union of States, to put down 
this and all other rebellions." 

The passwords, signs and grips were then imparted. The 
form of challenge was: "Have you seen Sam?" and the an- 



53 

swer was : "1 have," if a Union man. The next speech 
would be: "And will draw Washington's sword?" If a 
Union soldier you would say: "And have drawn Washing- 
ton's sword." 

Then the two would advance, lock arms and one would 
say: "Union," and the other: "Forever," and then separate. 

The foregoing is some of the Union pledge to support 
the Union, so now I properly belong to the Union League, 
voluntarily and in full fellowship of Ridgely Lodge, and I 
have kept the pledge still steadfast. 



54 

CHAPfER XVI. 
The Escape oe Tinsley. 

James H. Tinsley, of Ridgely, who was a rebel under oath 
and bond to keep the Union and not to aid or abet the rebels 
in any way, had a narrow escape in July, 1862, This was just 
before I left for Kansas. Three or four men, one a Union 
soldier, Bob McMillen, a brave man, came to see Bob Flem- 
ing about punishing Tinsley for planning and introducing a 
company of rebels encamped on Todd's Creek in Platte 
County to destroy the Union camp at Ridgely. The object 
of the raid would be to get about 27 horses that were being 
cared for by a few Union soldiers. Bob Fleming was in- 
quiring into the circumstances and I discovered that Tinsley 
might be guilty or might not, so I nudged Fleming's foot. 
He took mj' view and asked for twenty-four hours' time to 
make some further inquiries. The next day, Monday, was 
fixed to punish Tinsley, if guilty, so I went home that even- 
ing, on Sunday night, and on my way met a sympathizer of 
the South, a semi-reb and told him there was "a hen on" 
and Tinsley vras accused of being the cause of the attempt 
to rob the stable at Ridgely, which had only been prevented 
by a terrible wind and rain storm. Tinsley left home that 
night for St. Joseph and did not return until after the war 
was over. 

Fifteen years after I met Tinsley and he asked me who 
the parties were that were going to punish him, but I re- 
fused to tell him and he was angry until I said: "Tinsley, 
those men would kill you to-day if you raised a row about it." 

Then Tinsley explained the whole affair to me. I be- 
lieved him. He said the Rebs took shelter in his barn dur- 
ing the terrible storm that night and he was entirely ignorant 
that they were coming on the expedition. Then I was glad 
I did as I did. 



55 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Charges Made Against Me. 

About May, 1862, when I got back from Des Moines, 
where I fled the previous December, Major P. M. Savery 
and five others were detailed to bring me to headquarters 
of General Price to answer charges which had been made 
against me. The attempted arrest was caused by "Secesh" 
Mat Miller, Ike McCarty and many others of Liberty. Mil- 
ler told me the charges were: First, I was a coward; sec- 
ond, an abolishinist; third, an enemy of the Southern con- 
federacy; fourth, a spy in the rear of the Confederate army. 
I was also told that General Price would get my scalp. I 
fled one hour ahead of their arrival. They waited in Smith- 
ville for me, eating their meals in my home. Then they left 
for General Price'.<: headquarters. They were crossing the 
Blue River, four miles east of Kansas City, when they ran 
into a scouting party of Kansas soldiers. Two were cap- 
tured and the other four got away. The captured men were 
taken to a camp near Independence, where a court-martial 
was held. They admitted that they were Southern soldiers, 
without uniforms, armed and privately spying over on the 
north side of the River at Smithville. This was the end of 
the court-martia!. Next morning the company started on 
a march, leaving the prisoners under a guard, who were os- 
tensibly to bring them along later. They were both shot. 
Word was sent to Liberty and a brother of one of the men, 
Mr. Stark, told me that he had the men buried at Big Shoal 
Meeting House in Clay County. 

In reference to the charges that were to be brought 
against me, I deny one of them, "that I was in the rear of 
the Confederate army." 



56 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
Views of the Rebellion. 
The first two years of my life was spent in the State of 
New York, the next three years in Howard County, Mis- 
souri, the next two years in Carroll County, Missouri, and 
when eight years old my father's family came to Clay 
County, where I lived for forty years and where my life's 
struggles really began — where the great rebellion stalked 
abroad. "To arms, ye brave!" "Liberty or death," the 
French motto; "Union and liberty for all." 

Two million men enlisted in the Union army, one million 
were discharged after four years' struggle. The war was 
ended. The Rebel hosts were never numbered to a cer- 
tainty, but it is supposed a million and a quarter is near the 
correct number. In round numbers the death roll was near 
a million lost on both sides — in Union and "Secesh." The 
Union loss was somewhat larger than the loss on the seces- 
sion side — perhaps fifty thousand greater. Over one hundred 
-thousand emancipated slaves were enlisted in the Union army 
— 75 thousand were discharged. 

Speaking of the war of 1861-1865 the border States suf- 
fered severely by returning guerillas, remembering they were 
forced South into the Southern Confederacy. The Union 
men of the border, not enlisted men, aided and assisted the 
Union soldiers to rid the State of rebel "bushwhackers." 
This was natural for Union citizens to rid the country of the 
enemies of the State. The feelings were embittered and 
cruel all around, causing relatives and friends serious trouble. 
Now that the flag of the country floats over a Union of 
States in which there is not a single slave, the incidents of 
the war linger in the canvas of memory as fading pictures. 
I can now afTord to confess that I did send information to 
General Prentiss of which I was accused, and believe that in 
doing so I helped the Government. 



57 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Story of Sebree Saiith. 

When the Civil War was on, in June or July, the Gov- 
ernment gave orders that all citizens should hoist Union 
flags, the Stars and Stripes, over their front doors. This 
order came from Washington and was seconded by the 
Gamble Government at Jefferson City. The "Secesh" citi- 
zens vowed they would not. I was willing, but did not have a 
flag. My oldest son was in Iowa, my next son in a rail- 
road store, my oldest daughter in a seminary, so that only 
left myself, wife and the smaller children at home. Sebree 
Smith, a boy of ten, was one of these. I was away from home 
for a few days about this time, and Sebree got a few yards 
of bunting (calico), red, white and blue, about ten yards. He 
cut and tore it to suit and formed a flag about three feet 
wide and about nine feet long. He sewed it up well and 
fixed stars and stripes on it. He attached a staff to it and 
then climbed up a walnut tree in the front yard of our house, 
fastened it to a limb about 25 feet up in the air. Then he 
let the flag float to the breeze. This soon attracted the at- 
tention of the "Secesh" boys of the town and they came and 
fired a volley of stones at the flag. One stone went through 
the flag, tearing a large hole in it. It was torn from the 
staff, but caught on a lower limb, where it hung for three 
years. 

Sebree, who ran out to protect the flag, had to go in 
the house, as the boys were firing stones at him. 

His mother came out and protested, but the young boys 
only repHed by another shower of stones. Then Mrs. Smith 
went to the corner of the yard, about forty yards away, and 
called on Col. Lewis Wood and Dr. A. M. Robison. Wood 
was a Southern man not in favor of war, and Robison a 



58 

rebel. Both men helped to drive the boys away and peace 
was restored. I came home in the evening and saw the flag, 
and honored the boy for his bravery and interest in his 
country. 

Twelve months afterward I located at Valley Falls, Kan- 
sas. Senator James H. Lane often stopped with me for a 
day or two. Sidney Clark, a member of Congress often 
stopped with me there while he was electioneering. The flag 
story was often told there. 

When Sebree Smith was fifteen years old a vacancy oc- 
curred in West Point Military Academy. This appointment 
was given Sebree Smith for his bravery. He passed the 
examination, was four years a student, graduated with an 
average of go. In 1870 he was second lieutenant of the Sixth 
Cavalry, six years with the Second Artillery, acted as first 
lieutenant for near 20 years, then as captain. When the 
Spanish War broke out he was with the Third Artillery, was 
sent from Fort Warren, Boston, to Fort Stevens, at the 
mouth of the Columbia River, where he was taken sick and 
sent to the United States Hospital in Washington. He was 
notified by the Adjutant General to apply for Major, but 
was too sick. He died in Washington, and is buried in 
Arlington Cemetery. 

Thirty-two years after Sebree Smith had been appointed 
to West Point he was captain of Third Artillery. He had a 
son eighteen years of age who wanted an appointment as a 
cadet at West Point. His appointment could only come 
through the President, as his father was not a citizen of any 
Congressional district. William McKinley was a candidate 
for President. I met him and made a short statement in 
the presence of Webster Davis, then Mayor of Kansas City, 
Pilo., and many others. 



59 

In my introduction to Mr. McKinley I said: "When you 
come to your kingdom I shall more fully explain my claims 
for my grandson's appointment to West Point as a cadet." 

"What is that you say?" said Mr. McKinley. 

I replied: "When you are elected President of these 
United States." 

Two years afterwards the time had come. Web Davis 
and Congressman Broderick, of Kansas, a personal friend of 
the family, took up the matter of Captain Sebree Smith's pe- 
tition and my own petition and request for the appointment 
of my grandson as a cadet at West Point and gave in part the 
claims the Smith family had on the Union of these United 
States. It detailed the Smithville, Mo., incident which was 
almost a tragedy. I added this honorable, just recompense 
was due, I really thought, and not unreasonable to give 
Selwyn D. Smith, my grandson, this honor. 

These papers were carried to President McKinley. Mr. 
Broderick told me that he scanned them over and then 
said: "File these papers in the War Office where I can refer 
to them when needed." 

I learned that there were several hundred applications 
on file for West Point cadetships and only six could be ap- 
pointed each year by the President. I believe that since then 
the power to appoint has been raised. There were one 
hundred and two second lieutenants short in 1900; West Point 
would furnish about seventy, and the balance would be se- 
lected from sons of officers who perished in the Spanish 
War, and from competent enlisted soldiers of the regular 
army. 

In the meantime Selwyn D. Smith was nineteen years of 
age and he enlisted in the Thirty-fifth Infantry. He went to 



6o 

Manila in 1899. On the i6th of March, 1899, he was ap- 
pointed second lieutenant in the United States army. 

I stated in my diatribe to President McKinley that I 
lost in the Rebellion $20,000 worth of property at Smithville, 
Mo., and hence my claim was small considering the dangers 
I had passed thronght besides my losses. One tie only had 
saved my life at a critical time, and that was the tie that 
none know but the favored few. 



6i 

CHAPTER XX. 

My Political Sentiments. 

Politically from childhood I was anti-slavery, owing to 
my father's strong anti-slavery sentiments. In the Missouri 
question, from 1816 to 1821, with the fiercest part of 1819 
when mob violence drove three thousand citizens out of the 
territory, one-third of whom never returned, my father was 
what was called a Federalist. He believed in a strong na- 
tional government, with States secondary, "united we stand, 
divided we fall," opposed the slave trade as it was carried 
on with Africa or any other way. I voted for John Adams 
and John Quincy Adams. These were my first convictions. 
When Henry Clay in 1844 made his speech at Raleigh, North 
Carolina, that established my Whig principles beyond change 
on the tariff question. I had voted for William Henry Har- 
rison on the Whig question before, "Tippecanoe and Tyler 
too." Then the next was John C. Freemont in 1856. Then 
we had no ticket in my State, Missouri. Next, Abraham 
Lincoln, I failed to vote for him, as we had no electors, so 
I voted for Bell and Everett. In 1864 I voted for Abraham 
Lincoln. In Valley Falls, Kansas, I voted for General 
Grant twice. I voted for Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, Mc- 
Kinley, always voting true American ticket to the last. 

My connection with slavery was this. None of the six 
Smith brothers ever sold a slave. It was against their creed. 
As a matter of compulsion and necessity they were kept 
for work, but given compensation; and as for the buying of 
them, that was for the same reason, to get their services, and 
not for trafific. 

All got their freedom without Mr. Lincoln's proclama- 
tion. Voluntarily all of the slaves were turned loose and sent 
to freedom. 



62 

CHAPTER XXI. 
As A Mason and Know-Nothing. 

About fifty years ago I was made a Free Mason in the 
Ridgely, Missouri, lodge of Free and Ancient Masons. After 
some years we organized a lodge of Free Masons in Smith- 
ville, I was one of the charter members. The lodge flour- 
ished for some years, when the war of the rebellion came 
on like a cyclone. Some of the brethren were for Union, 
some for secession. So brethren disagreed out of the lodge 
and on the street. In the lodge we said brethren should 
agree in and out of the lodge. But a storm was too plainly 
brewing and the shock was at hand; so we passed a resolu- 
tion to surrender our charter back to the Grand Lodge of 
the State of Missouri, instructing our secretary to send the 
charter and jewels to the Grand Lodge. This was in Octo- 
ber, 1861, or thereabout. Ten years later I obtained a demit 
from the Grand Lodge of the State of Missouri at St. Louis. 
I still have my demit. I am an unaffiliated Mason now; I 
still have my working tools and laboring and dress aprons. 

In 1853 or about that date I was in St. Louis when 
the Whig party thought the American idea would strengthen 
their political force and power. A new order was started 
which was called the "Know-Nothings, " a rather private so- 
ciety. This fad raged a few years, but failed in its aims. 
I united with this party in St. Louis. It was for Americans 
to rule America, no foreign born to hold office, the same 
rule as applies to President of the United States. I don't 
think that so far this rule is necessary in the United States. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
Sporting Experience. 
In the early thirties there were many men who belonged 
to what was called the "Shop de Spoile" or sporting men. 
There were from twenty to thirty leaders, five from Rich- 
mond, Ray County, Mo., with many followers, eager for 
business. The leaders were Ance and Bill Martin, brothers; 
Wiley Williams, John Brown, Bright Sherwood and George 
Allen, with many followers. From Liberty, Clay County, 
Mo., there were Yell Moore and his nephew, Tight Moore; 
Newman, a tinner; John Baxter and Coleman Younger, who 
lived ten miles west of Liberty, near Barry. He owned sev- 
eral fine farms there and was leader of the Liberty crowd. 
This Coleman Younger was the grand-uncle of the Coleman 
Younger of the present day, now hving in Jackson County, 
Mo. He was one of the three Younger brothers who went 
through the Civil War on the Confederate side and after- 
wards were imprisoned in the States Prison of Minnesota. 

Another noted sport of those days was Dick Welden from 
North Grand River. He was always in evidence with a fine 
stud of horses. On all holidays and on many special days 
these men would assemble at the race* courses and bet their 
money on the races. At night they would play cards, as that 
was a favorite method of passing time, and everybody indulg- 
ed in it. When "green" horses were brought in from the 
country those who knew how fast the horse could travel 
would bet their money freely. 

This continued for ten years and then the Mexican War 
scattered the sports, some going to California and others to 
engage in the war. Others stayed around until the Kansas- 
Nebraska agitation came up and during the Border Ruffian 
war sporting of all kinds was wiped out. The preachers of 



64 

the Northern Methodist Church were also helpful in the 
breaking up of the sporting. One of the stumbling blocks 
in their way was old Daddy Whitton from near Excelsior 
Springs, Clay County. Others who kept up preaching against 
the evil were old Daddy Isaac Burns, Charley Morris and 
Ray Taylor, of the forks of Platte, who was a fine singer. 

A mob at Missouri City, in Clay County, once notified 
old Daddy Whitton to stop preaching on the day that he 
was appointed to preach in that city. A Mr. Sullivan, who 
was editor of a paper there; young George Wallis and a com- 
mittee from the town, took the old preacher to one side and 
read the riot act to him, telling him he should not preach. 
The old preacher said: "My grandfather was a colonel in 
the Revolutionary War in 1788 and my father bore an honor- 
able position in the same war and was killed while on duty. 
I was beside him when he fell and I served out my time. 
Now I am old and receive a pension of twelve dollars a 
month, but I am able to preach the Gospel as commanded 
by Christ, to all the world and I shall. I am now ready to 
gird on the sword to defend the rights of my country and 
myself." 

As he finished young George Wallis jumped on the old 
preacher, but Sullivan stopped him saying: "Let us have 
peace. I don't know, but I may need the prayers of old 
Daddy Whitton myself." 

Old Daddy Whitton used to stop at my house in Smith- 
ville and told me the above story. My wife was a warm 
friend of the old preacher and used to prevail upon him to 
preach at Smithville. When the date was set she used to take 
great pains to notify all her neighbors, so that there would 
be a big crowd present. 

Daddy Whitton married George Allen's widow and moved 



65 

to Kansas just before the Civil War in 1861. He bought a 
farm about fifteen miles south of Kansas City. He had 
some few cattle, horses and other comforts for his own and 
family use. 

Quantrell and his band often passed near the old preach- 
er's house on their way from Kansas to Missouri, but never 
molested him in any way, always going around the place. 
It was said that Quantrell, who was from a State north of 
Mason and Dixon's Hne, was afraid to molest the old North- 
ern Methodist preacher. 

Rev. Charles Morris, the Methodist preacher, was a chap- 
lain in a Union regiment that went from St. Joseph, Mo. 
While he was with the regiment in Arkansas his wife was 
taken sick and sent for him to come home. His home was 
on a farm near the head of Bee Creek, in Platte County, 
Mo. He brought home with him a negro soldier. A few 
days after his arrival home his wife died and with the help 
of the negro soldier Mr. Morris buried her. 

They were to start back to headquarters of the army next 
morning and some rebel bushwackers heard of it and visited 
the house. They attacked the two defenseless men and kill- 
ed them. Then they threw the bodies of the old Methodist 
pracher and the colored soldier into the house and then se( 
fire to the house. The bodies were entirely consumed. 

The news created quite a lot of sensation in the immediate 
vicinity. Charls Morris had two sons stationed in Fort 
Leavenworth, both being in the Union Army. As soon as 
they heard the news they came to Platte City to avenge their 
father's death. A Doctor Walker, a retired surgeon of the 
United States Army, was a noted Border Ruffian and he 
had been one of the crowd that broke up a Methodist camp- 
meeting conducted under Northern principles by Rev. 



66 

Charles Morris. Rev. Isaac Burns and another preacher. He 
lived five miles south of Platte City, on the road leading to 
Hampton and Parkville, Mo. 

To avenge their father's death, and possibly thinking that 
Doctor Walker was one of the mob that had helped kill their 
father, the Morris boys took Doctor Walker prisoner at his 
home, but before they reached Platte City with him they shot 
and killed him. They then went through Platte City to Fort 
Leavenworth, Kansas, about eight miles distant. Nothing 
was ever said about this by either side. 

At the time the camp-meeting was broken up by Dr. 
Walker and his crowd Rev. Isaac Burns fled from there and 
took refuge in my house, where he was cared for and sym- 
pathized with by my wife. 

From the time I was seventeen until I was twenty-seven 
there was all sorts of "sport" among the men of the West. 
Cards, wheels of fortune, banking games and horse-racing 
was indulged in by everyone. I was a looker on and took 
a decided interest as a boy of 17. A man from Shenandoah, 
Virginia, a farmer's son, who had been shown the inside of 
these games and the advantages, taught me. At that time 
Hon. Senator Henry Clay, of Kentucky, was very fond of 
playing "bragg," so all the other Western men took interest 
in it. I soon took a deep interest in it and as I never turned 
my back to any I often found it profitable. I never neglected 
business for sporting, and as I was always sober I could 
carry the stakes. Business, however, made me stop it, so 
when I reached forty no more sporting for me. I went into 
business, merchandising, farming, stock raising, buying and 
selling land and met with great success until the Civil War 
broke out. Then I lost $20,000, went to Kansas where I lost 
$4000 more. After that I settled down again and left with 



67 

all debts paid, $14,000 cash and a $5000 homestead. My ad- 
ministrator will tell you the final balance sheet. 

When I was rather a green-horn in sporting I was in 
St. Louis, Mo., and started on a steamboat for Liberty Land- 
ing. The first day out a number of sharpers started card 
and dice games on the deck. They kept this up until we got 
to Boonville, Mo., and many dropped down from the cabin 
to look on or take a hand. We left Boonville late at night 
and jogged along the river. Just at daybreak one man who 
had been playing with the sharpers leaned back to where his 
wife was sleeping, with her four or five little girls cuddled 
up close to her, and said: "Anna, I have lost all my money." 

The wife jumped up, and, although only clad in one un- 
dergarment, which barely reached to the calves of her legs, 
she at once ran to where the gamblers were playing. She 
grabbed the sweat cloth, the fare box, dice box, cards, etc., 
all of the money, paper, gold and silver. This was quite a 
large amount, as it not only included the winnings, but also 
the capital. She quickly ran to the forecastle, then upstairs 
to the clerk's room. The clerk happened to be in, so the 
woman said: "Here, take this; they have won all our mon- 
ey. We have not paid our fare nor for the freight." 

The clerk quickly obeyed orders and put the whole 
bundle in the safe. One of the head gamblers, who had fol- 
lowed the woman, got there just in time to see the money 
put in the safe. He at once demanded the return of his 
money, both from the woman and the clerk, using furious 
oaths. The husband of Anna had followed, and the gambler 
drew a big knife and flashed it in his face and drew it across 
his throat, while with the most furious oaths he demanded 
the return of his money. The clerk saw that war was de- 
clared, and as the steward Vv^as just passing, the clerk told 
him to call the captain. 



6S 

As soon as the captain came to the clerk's office the 
woman commenced telling him: "It was all the money they 
had in the world, and that they had not paid their freight or 
passage." The gambler tried to explain, but the woman 
kept repeating: "It was all the money they had." Her 
tongue ran like a bell-clapper, repeating the same thing over 
and over again. The gambler only asked for a fair settle- 
ment and to get back his own money, but he could not be 
heard on account of the woman. 

The captain stepped forward to the boiler deck and tap- 
ped the bell for the pilot to land the boat on the star-board 
side. He was followed by the woman, Anna, with her al- 
most naked children. Some of them had on torn slips, but 
they all had but little covering. As it was warm weather, in 
June, this did not hurt them any. They clung to the few ar- 
ticles of clothing their mother had on. 

In the meantime the captain had ordered the mate to 
take two sailors and bring the yawl aroimd to the star- 
board side. When this had been done the captain ordered 
the mate to bring up four or five deck hands to the boiler 
deck. Then the captain said: "Take these two men and 
put them on shore." The mate had a long bamboo pole, 
about six feet in length, and he flourished it as he ordered 
the two gamblers to march. I could not help but laugh 
as the deck hands pointed to the naked little girls as the 
gamblers marched past. 

Down in the forecastle one of the gamblers said to a 
friend: "Have our boxes and trunks put ofif at the next 
town above." This was Lexington, Mo, 

I watched the gamblers as they marched through the 
grass and weeds up toward Glasgow, Mo., which was about 
six or seven miles up the river. When we passed that place 



69 

I saw nothing of the two gamblers. Next night at 9 o'clock 
when we reached the landing place where the gamblers' 
goods were to be put off I heard their friend tell the ware- 
house man that they would be called for by two men. 

Next morning we were at Liberty Landing and the man 
who had lost all of his money was attending to the putting 
off of the boxes, barrels, bedsteads, lot of bundles of cloth- 
ing and otherthings like emigrants usually carry. The clerk 
called Anna, the man's wife, to come to his ofifice. When she 
went there he handed her a bundle made up of the veritable 
sweat cloth such as the gamblers used in the game the night 
before and a receipt for sixteen dollars for freight and pas- 
sage. He also assisted her in getting the children ashore 
and helped her with her bundles. 

The gentleman who put off the freight of the gamblers 
near Lexington said afterwards that the gamblers told him 
that they lost over one hundred dollars of their own, over 
and above what they had won up to the time of leaving. 
Who done wrong is the question? 



70 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
Business Experiences. 
At twelve years of age, my father had just built a grist 
mill, two run of four-foot burr stones. He ground for one- 
eighth of each grist. He also had a saw mill. He had six 
sons and two daughters, and, although we were all young, 
we assisted in the running of the mills. He had a farm of 
20 acres of meadow land, lo acres of plough land, one acre 
of orchard. He owned about 25 head of cattle, 75 hogs and 
6 horses. We all attended log-house country schools. There 
were three brothers older than I and two younger. 

I was put in one of the mills to attend the running. I 
soon learned to repair machinery in either the saw or 
grist mill. 

For ten or twelve miles around people flocked to those 
mills for supplies and accommodations. At 21 years of age 
I thought land a good investment, so I started a small spec- 
ulation. I ran this up to say 500 acres in six years. 

At 23 years of age I commenced merchandising in 
a small way. At the age of 26 I was married to Agnes Jor- 
dan, and we went to housekeeping at once. Fortune, the 
fickle dame came and I took a back seat, settled up, called 
in my outstandings, and found it was not as bad as it 
might have been. 

When 34 I took a new lease in speculation, pushed bus- 
iness and success, I thought mine, for many years. At 48 
came the great Rebellion. Now a frost, a killing frost, nip- 
ped my success. I had nine children, mostly in schools and 
colleges. The tocsin of war w-as sounded not only afar oft, 
but at home, in Smithville, Clay County, Mo. 

I took a loyal stand for my country, radically. I first 
took my two oldest sons from a college that was a hot bed 



71 

of "secesh." The oldest M^ent to Des Moines, Iowa, and 
the next year to Kansas. During 1861 and 1862 I was driven 
myself to Iowa. 

In 1864, the early spring I went to Valley Falls, Kan- 
sas, with ten likely negro slaves to be free, as they are this 
day. The value of these slaves was $10,000, and my other 
losses over $15,000. 

My first venture in business was when I was about 23 
years of age. Although I had but little experience in grocery 
or mercantile business I left for St. Louis, Mo., with about 
nine hundred dollars in my pocket. I had self-confidence, 
for I had been engaged in the milHng business for years. I 
got on the boat at Liberty landing, and it looked as if I 
were going to have a pleasant trip. 

Just as the boat got near the landing in St. Louis a 
gentleman pointed out a large stone building near the wharf 
and said: "There is an excellent wholesale grocery store, 
and a safe house to do business with." 

That afternoon I walked into the store and one of the 
firm asked if he could do anything for me. I found out 
afterward that the firm was worth about $500,000. I said 
first I wanted to deposit some money so I could draw it out 
as I needed it. He seated me at a table and I commenced 
unbuttoning my clothes, and then from under my shirt and 
from my shoes I drew out gold and paper money. I counted 
the money and then went out and looked around the town. 
Next day I commenced doing business. What this firm did 
not have I bought from other firms, and soon I was out of 
money. Then this firm offered to sell me more groceries. 
They asked me if I could give a cash check, but I said I had 
no deposit. Then they asked me if I could pay in thirty days, 
but I said it would take longer than that to get home 



with my stock. Then I told them that if they would sell 
me about $500 worth of staple goods on 6 months, 6 per 
cent, or four months' credit, without interest, I would trade. 
They laughed and said that their most favored customers 
did not get such terms. We dickered for \wo or three days. 
Then my boat had bills up to leave the next day, so I went 
to them and told them to have my goods ready at the boat. 
I was just going out of the door, when who should I meet 
but Graham L. Hughes, of Liberty, Mo. He was of the 
firm of Jas. M. and G. L. Hughes. Jim Hughes, of this 
firm, was Governor after this, and also at one time Presi- 
dent of the Missouri State Bank. I passed out and Mr. 
Hughes went in the store. Naturally the members of the 
firm asked him who Smith was. They also said that I wanted 
to buy more goods, but could give no security. 

Then Hughes said: "Sell him all the goods he wants. 
Send the bills to our firm and we will pay you and I will 
collect from Smith. He is the shrewdest young man in that 
vicinity, and my brother Matt thinks him good at anything 
that comes along." 

The next morning when I went to settle for the goods 
I had bought they were very anxious to sell me. I took 
about $600 worth and gave them two notes, one for four 
months with no interest and one for six months at 6 per 
cent. I went home in very good spirits. The first note was 
due in four months, and I went to Liberty, and stopped at 
Hughes' store, expecting to buy exchange. Hughes met me 
and said as he was going to send some money to St. Louis 
the next day he could send mine with it. I agreed, being 
happy at saving the exchange. When the next notes came due 
I went to Hughes' store again and Hughes said: "That firm 



sent your note up here for collection. So you can pay us 
and save the exchange." I did so. 

Then Mr. Hughes said: "Smith, do you know why they 
sold you that bill of goods?" I said I did not. 

Then he told me and he seemed very happy to think that 
he had done me a favor without my knowing it. 

After I had realized on this venture I was never checked 
in any business transaction. Merchants in New York, Phil- 
adelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis, Leavenworth and Kansas 
City always sent me word: "Let us see more of you." I was 
never denied after this time. 



74 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
The CivAy County "First Settlers' " Convention. 
In about 1890 the papers published at Excelsior Springs, 
Clay County, Missouri, contained notice that the first set- 
tlers of Clay County would meet in convention at Excel- 
sior Springs for the purpose of organizing a society of old 
settlers. Qualifications for membership rested on a resi- 
dence in the county from the 20s to the 30s and all who were 
born in the county and had lived there sixty-five years were 
eligible. I lived in Kansas City and so attended. A large 
concourse of people were on hand, introductions were made, 
and acquaintances were jovial. After dinner the old settlers 
gathered at the theatre building for organization. A noted 
doctor, well and favorably known, was called to the chair 
and with a well expressed statement outlined the object of 

the meeting, giving a history of his life, taking a retrospec- 
tive view of the civil war, giving his record there in 1861 
to 1865. He declared he was one amongst the first to enlist 
in the Southern army, with a determined will to win or die 
in the last ditch. But long before the war closed he wished 
it was over, and later he became as strong a Union man as 
any who fought in its armies or stayed at home. The 
Doctor took his chair with applause. There were forty of 
us present and thirty-nine spoke in the same strain. All 
had been to war in the Southern army, or had assisted in 
furthering the Southern cause, and all now Union men. 
Finally, at the end of the class this writer, Calvin Smith, 
took the stand and stated that although he had not been an 
enlisted Union soldier, he had assisted the Union army to 
drive all rebels south of the Missouri river and sympathizers 
to take the oath of loyalty or go to jail. I was like the hon- 



75 

orable chairman — the war ended just as I wanted it to end, I 
was happy in the final results. (Cheers and groans.) 

As I came to Clay County in 1822 I considered it my 
right to become a member of the society. The chairman an- 
nounced that all those entitled to membership should come 
forward to the platform. Forty of us were at once seated. 
All were interviewed. When my time came objections was 
made that I had forfeited my county citizenship by leaving 
the county and also the State. To this I replied that I was 
forced to leave the county and State by the home enemy 
during the civil war, but that since peace had returned I was 
on my way to Smithville, Clay County, Missouri; that I was 
stopping in Kansas City, but that Smithville was my home. 
No man could be forced from his citizenship. 

A committee was appointed to report at the next meet- 
ing. Their report was favorable and I paid my dollar and 
joined. All shook hands with me and we talked over old 
times; when one-half of them used to come to Smith's Mills 
for grinding of meal and flour, and for lumber. One-fouijth, 
probably, had been customers of my store at Smithville; 
many I had credited for goods; some were raised within two 
miles of Smithville. All knew me and I knew nine-tenths 
of them. 



76 

CHAPTER XXV. 
River Stories. 
My first trip on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in 
April, 1836, was in company with a party of leading business 
men of Western Missouri. Among the number was James 
M. Hughes, of Liberty, Oay County, Mo., one of the 
staunchest merchants and business men of that day. We 
had a delightful trip, separating at St. Louis, Mo., some 
going down the river to Memphis and other points. I went 
to Natchez, as I learned that my brother, Erastus Smith, 
who was a pilot on the "Swiftboy," a boat that plied on the 
Red River, would arrive there that day. I arrived early in 
the morning and at noon the "Swiftboy" arrived. I imme- 
diately went aboard and found my brother at dinner. We 
chatted only a few moments when a man with a pistol and 
a rope came on board and stepped up to the steward, a bright 
mulatto man. He placed him under arrest as a fugitive 
slave. Then walking back to the ladies' cabin he arrested 
'the chambermaid. Starting for the forecastle he passed near 
my brother and myself. The steward asked permission to 
get his coat from his room. Permission was given and the 
prisoner went out the back door, down to the deck, then into 
the wheel house and quickly slid into the water under the 
paddle wheel bucket, leaving out only his nose. 

The overseer, who seemed to be from a neighboring plan- 
tation, tied the chambermaid's wrist tightly with the rope 
and then took her to the forecastle. Then he went in search 
of his prisoner. He got the assistance of the deck hands 
to help him discover the fleeing prisoner. The overseer as 
soon as he saw the slave's hiding place underneath the pad- 
dle wheel bucket pointed his pistol at him, ordered him to 
come out. The negro at once loosened his hold and sank 



17 

into forty feet of water never to rise again. Only a few bub- 
bles rising in the water showed where he sank, 

I went on shore and saw the negro chambermaid crying 
and screaming from the pain, she having been tied so tight 
with the rope that the blood had stopped circulating. She 
ran screaming to me begging that I should loose the cord, 
but I was frightened, as I saw the overseer coming toward 
me with his pistol in his hand. There were dozens of people 
standing around, but no one interfered. The overseer moved 
on with his prisoner and I saw no more of him. 

Next morning the steamboat "Swiftboy" was attached for 
$1500 for the loss of the black man. Bond was given and 
the boat left for Nantucket, up the Red River. 

In 1838 I went to St. Louis, Mo., on a boat. We had the 
customary cabin passengers, business men, sporting men and 
travelers of all kinds. First day out near Sibley, Mo., our 
boat got on a sand-bar. The mate was not an up-to-date 
man, so Captain Bates went out in a yawl v/ith mates and 
deck hands to warp the boat off. They were to draw the 
boat off by letting out the anchor and then attaching to it a 
cable wrapped around the main staff, to be drawn by an 
engine. In letting out the cable a coil caught the captain 
around the thigh and hauled him overboard. The crew were 
unable to stop the yawl and it drifted away while all the 
passengers who saw the catastrophe screamed with horror. 
The clerk, A. B. Miller, who was shaving, heard the cries, 
and calling to the yawl to pull to our boat, he succeeded in 
fishing up the cable and recovering the body of the captain. 
In the meantime the steamboat had floated off the bar and 
we proceeded down to St. Louis. When we reached that 
city the captain's two brothers took his body ashore. 



78 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
A Country Dance. 
About the tenth of April, 1838, I heard there was to be 
a party or rather a country dance, near St. Joseph, Mo. It 
was twenty-five miles away in the New Platte Purchase, 
where people had just been settling for two years. Log 
cabins were all the go at that time. Early in the morning of 
that day I started for the fandango. On the way, about fif- 
teen miles out I stopped at Woodville, a town just started, 
where there was a grocery store and private tavern. Bill 
Tawney Hill, a young man whom I knew, owned this store 
and he had a nice stock of goods. I also knew another 
young man in the town. I told them where I was bound for 
and that I had prospects of a good time. I then went on to 
Contrary Creek, in sight of St. Joe, about ten miles distant, 
on the big road. This was the place where the party was to 
be held. 

There were twelve or fifteen horses hitched to hickory 
grubs and stumps and a half dozen wagons near by, with the 
horses tied to the wagons. I tied my horse to a hickory 
sprout close by and went to the house, which was a double 
log house, two good-sized buildings. Near the door I pulled 
ofif my overcoat. 

Just as I went in the door a large Virginia Reel was 
being danced. A young man, who was dancing in the reel 
with his lady, took me by the hand and said: "Mr. Smith, 
take my partner. My horse out yonder is getting in his 
halter," pointing with his hand to where the horses were 
tied. I dropped my overcoat at once, swung into the dance 
with the young lady and soon became well acquainted with 
her, as I did with many other ladies and gentlemen that 
night. 



79 

The dance was kept up until midnight, supper being served 
in the meantime. There was a large log fire outside for the 
cooking. The adjoining room to where we danced was the 
place for eating. There were about forty people there, 
mostly young people. There were two fiddlers, and they 
kept the music going all the time. 

Later some of the young men, who were tired of dancing 
and a few of the older men, started a game of "brag" and 
soon others started a game of "poker." The dance con- 
tinued until after midnight and then a few of them went home. 
The ladies who remained bunked on the floor of the adjoin- 
ing room, but there w^ere enough card players left to keep 
two tables going. Money seemed plentiful and the games 
continued all night. 

When morning came we had breakfast and then the 
dancing and gaming commenced again. New recruits soon 
joined us, some taking a hand at cards while others danced. 
In the afternoon Bill Tawney Hill and his friend came in. 
Both were sports and liked cards and dancing, so they 
joined us. 

Soon after dinner Lang Searcey, from near Smithville, 
who had heard where I was and followed me twenty miles, 
came in and at once started in on the sport. He liked danc- 
ing, but gambling was his best hand. About dark Yell Moore, 
from Liberty, who had heard of the big good times at Con- 
trary Creek, came over forty miles, with a friend, to join in 
the gaming. They w^ere special sportsmen. 

On Friday I was tired and worn out, so I got my horse 
and started for home by way of Linville store, a new town 
on the head of Bee Creek. I had dinner there and then went 
on home. 

The game at Contrary Creek kept up until Sunday morn- 



8o 

ing. The result was that Bill Tawney Hill lost about three 
hundred and fifty dollars. He was the greatest loser, the 
rest being twenty dollars or thereabouts in or out. I never 
reported my gains or losses at that time. I was always 
ready for a country dance or a game. It could always be 
had by going after it. 



J. 8i 

CHx\PTER XXVII. 
Experiences in Des Moines, Iowa. 

I remained in Kansas City until June 13, 1901, when I 
again went to Des Moines, a wanderer. The first thing I 
did after settHng there was to get into good society — I went 
to church. Next I joined the Octogenarian Society, an or- 
ganization of twenty-five members. The quahfications for 
membership was to be 80 years old or more. Men of 70 
years were also admittd as junior members. October 25 of 
the above year the first meeting of the society was held, at 
a hotel at high noon. Plates were laid for sixty and each 
plate cost 75 cents. Two hours were given to introduction 
and arranging membership, and at 2 o'clock dinner was an- 
nounced. My daughter, Mrs. Anna Goodenough, and grand- 
daughter, Miss Eva Goodenough, accompanied me. I was 
given the place of honor at the head of the table, being 88 
years old — the oldest man present. After dinner speeches 
were called for and I was invited to speak, which I did, de- 
tailing a short history of my life, of Missouri, of the Mis- 
souri Question, and the expulsion of the free State men, and 
the trials incident to war times on the border. 

In June 1903 I visited in Des Moines and attended 
church services. The Des Moines Register says of that oc- 
casion: 

"The centennial sermon delivered by Dr. A. B. Storms 
at the First M. E. Church Sunday morning on the Louisi- 
ana Purchase drew a large audience and was one of much 
interest to all. He told of the resources of the vast territory, 
the struggles and development which has produced for the 
world a country unequaled in wealth, usefulness and beauty. 
In its nature it must have a peculiar people to unfold a coun- 
try so vast— men with brain and brawn, brave and enduring; 



82 

men whose lives must be given to produce homes for mil- 
lions who seek our shores; strong men with mental, moral 
and physical force to lay a perfect foundation. 'In my 
audience I see a gentleman who is a fine representative of 
this type and who has lived in the Louisiana Purchase 87 
years— Father Smith. Am I not right?' To which the gen- 
tleman assented. 'Will you arise and face the people that 
they may see a man so well preserved.' He has a marvelous 
physique and the intelHgence of expression is still keen and 
active. It is a pleasure to see him and enjoy his conversa- 
tion. Surely he is a fine representative of the man Dr. 
Storms portrayed and as he passed out of the church after 
the services many congratulations and handshakes with 
hearty good wishes greeted him." 



83 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 

An Interview with Vice President Fairbanks. 

My interview with Vice President Fairbanks can best be 
told by the following clipping from The Kansas City Journal: 

Senator Fairbanks, candidate for Vice President, was 
given a reception at the Midland Hotel. While the recep- 
tion was given by the Republican party, the most promi- 
nent people present were the Tippecanoe voters for William 
Henry Harrison, in 1840. One was John Adolphus McNa- 
mee, of St. Joseph, and the other Calvin Smith, of this city. 
Calvin Smith, of 161 1 Oak street, was thus introduced to 
Senator Fairbanks by U. S. Epperson. 

" 'Calvin Smith, Senator. He is 91 years old, has been 
88 years west of the Mississippi River and voted for Harri- 
son in 1840.' 

"Senator Fairbanks said: 'I hope you will live to be a 
hundred, Mr. Smith.' 

" 'I hope to meet you again in Washington,' said old 
man Smith, straightening himself up. 'I hope to see you Vice 
President.' 
" 'Thank you, sir,' said the Senator. 

"Putting Mr. Smith's card in his pocket, he said to 
Mr. Epperson: 'I must write to him. Isn't he a fine speci- 
men of an old gentleman?' " 



84 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

How Elliot Was Converted. 
This is a reminiscence of a dialogue on the "sins of 
men" by and between Humphrey Smith and Joseph Elliot, 
when I was quite a boy. It was near 80 years ago. My 
father, Humphrey Smith, owned a mill, both saw and grist 
mill, two run of four-foot burr stones. We took one-eighth 
for toll for the grinding. 

Elliot, who lived ten miles away, in Clinton County, 
came in with some wheat. He had a two-horse wagon and a 
colored man to drive. After the wheat had been carried in 
for grinding my father sat and talked to Mr. Elliot, and then 
said: "Come go home with me for supper and stay all night. 
The miller and your man will attend to the grinding and it 
will be all ready for you." 

Mr. Elliot accepted the invitation and went to our house 
for supper. After supper both men were sitting in front of 
a big fireplace filled with wood. The conversation finally 
turned on the doctrine of salvation and Christian religion. 

Elliot soon announced that he believed all men would be 
saved, the Universalist doctrine. Father discussed the sub- 
ject freely, quoting Scriptures. Elliot did the same, quoting 
Isaiah, the Prophet: "Give the poor man strong drink to 
drink, that he may be drunken and forget his poverty." 

Finally the argument got dull, when father said: "Elliot, 
when you die you will go to hell." 

"Think so?" said Elliot. "Yes," said Smith, "unless 
you repent." 

"Well, Smith, how am I to repent?" asked Elliot. 

"You must set all your negro slaves free and pay them 
for all the work you have extorted from them and then get 



8s 

down on your knees and ask God to forgive you. Then live 
godly in Christ Jesus the balance of your life and you will be 
saved." 

"Well, Smith, if I have to do all of this I would rather 
die and go to hell, and lie there forever than to repent," said 
Elliot, and then he brought down his fist on his knees in a 
solemn manner. 

Elliot was then the owner of sixteen slaves, "a whole 
heap of niggers," according to the Southern phraseology. 

Time rolled on for many years, and finally the Kansas 
and Nebraska acts for new States were passed. There was a 
struggle as regards Kansas, whether it would be a slave 
or Free State. It was finally decided as a Free State. El- 
liot knew the country, it being less than twenty-five miles 
from where he lived. He knew that settlers would take up 
homesteads, and that it was fine land. Elliot called all his 
slaves together, one day and said to them: "I want you all 
to go to Kansas. Take all the wagons, horses, harness, 
plows, harrows, cattle, hogs, sheep and provisions, corn, 
wheat, bacon, enough to last you until you can raise or get 
otherwise. Come back, if necessary, for more. There is 
plenty here for all of us. You will find the best of land 
twenty-five miles south of Topeka. No risk in this venture. 
Land will come into market at $1.25 an acre. I will see that 
you have the money on hand when that time comes. Now 
all ready for a start to the new home." 

An old negro woman, about 70 years of age, mother 
and grandmother to a number of those who were going, 
went to ElHot and said: "Massa, I'se don't want to go away 
among strangers. I'se take cold and dies." 

"Well, well. Aunty," said Mr. Elliot, "if you don't want 
to go you can stay right here where you are and this is 



86 

your home as long as yon live. Stay in your house and 
take care of yourself. There is plenty for both of us." 

A few years later Elliot died. He had no children, never 
was married. He had a fine farm, and a lot of money loaned 
at ten per cent. He had four or five brothers and one sister, 
and all were old. 

Arch Elliot, his brother, and Judge Froman adminis- 
tered his estate. When they went to make an appraisement 
they took memoranda of all the estate, farm implements, 
etc. Then they met the old Auntie whom I told about. 
Blandly they asked her, the faithful old woman slave, what 
she had, and the old ex-slave said: "Massa give me money 
from time to time and with that and what my son earned 
from playing the fiddle I'se got about $350 in silver." The 
gentlemen administrators and appraisers counted it, put it 
in their pockets and left. So ends the history of Mr. Elliot, 
as far as knows the relator. 



87 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Extracts from Newspapers. 
Extract from Kansas City World: 

In speaking of the Smithville Horse Show, which was 
held in October, 1905, the Kansas City World had the fol- 
lowing to say: 

"The most conspicuous figure at Smithville is Calvin 
Smith, 92 years of age, a tall, well preserved, neatly groomed 
veteran, with long gray hair and whiskers, whose father, 
Humphrey Smith, founded Smithville in 1822, when Calvin 
was but 9 years old. 

"Mr. Smith is the father of Henry and James G. 
Smith, prominent Kansas City attorneys, and lives with the 
latter at 161 1 Oak street, in that city. All day Mr. Smith 
was surrounded by the old-timers and reminiscences of war 
times flew thick and fast. 

" 'I left in a hurry during the war,' said Mr. Smith, 'as 
General Price had sent six men to get me, but I escaped and 
two of the six men never lived to tell Price how it hap- 
pened.' 

"A flour mill, now doing a business of 100 barrels a day, 
founded by the elder Smith, is one of the leading institutions 
of Smithville." 
Extract from Kansas City Sunday Star: 

"Calvin Smith, of 161 1 Oak street, is 92 years of age. 
For eighty-seven of these years he has lived in Missouri. 
Few will appreciate, perhaps, unless time is taken to think 
over it, how very much of this country's most important 
history is included in ninety-two years, but a quick and em- 
phatic way of realizing it is in remembering that Calvin 
Smith was born while the guns were still roaring in battle in 
the war of 1812. When he was cutting his first teeth his 



father was fighting for his country. Practically every nota- 
ble advance in the civilization of this country for nearly a 
century has come to pass during this man's life. He has 
marveled at all the great inventions and discoveries of 
science; he has seen the world's map change; nations have 
risen and fallen in his time; political parties have come and 
gone, and he is still a Republican. To quote his own words, 
he'll be one until he dies. 

"Calvin Smith's great age is impressed upon you when 
3'ou meet him, not by his long white hair or any physical de- 
ficiency, for he is as straight as a man of 50, but by his con- 
versation. When he says: *I lived forty years in Smithvilfe, 
leaving there in 1862,' you feel young. 

"When he goes on to say occasionally: 'Seventy years 
ago,' or 'I had a plan in the 30s' you begin to realize how 
old he really is. 

Calvin Smith does not walk twenty miles before break- 
fast, and he doesn't split a cord of wood each day for exer- 
cise, which makes him a unique figure among old men. 

" 'I have lived through the nerve-racking experiences 
of city life,' he said, a few days ago, 'and I have known 
the farmers' trials. Most of my life I was a merchant in a 
small town. I came to Kansas City in '82.* " 

At various times during the year 1905 the Smithville 
Star, published at Smithville, Mo., publishd illustrated articles 
and extracts from my autobiography under the title "The 
Smiths of Smithville." These articles were widely read and 
copied in full in many of the leading papers of the country. 
The interest taken in the narration of many exciting inci- 
dents of the history of our county and the calls for the facts 
as seen by an eye-witness led me to have them published in 
full. 



89 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

A Romance of a Love Wedding in i8i8. 

The writer was a witness of these facts. In Howard 
County, Mo., in 1818, my father Hved on the big road leading 
from FrankHn to now Columbia, thence to St. Charles, on 
the north side of the Missouri River. One day in July there 
came along a party of five or six men, each leading a horse 
with a pack saddle on, containing camp equipage and cloth- 
ing, on top of these were a number of children. There were 
five or six women walking behind, some of them barefooted. 

The company stopped at our house for a drink from the 
springs. After refreshing themselves they laid on the grass 
for a rest, it being the heat of the day. We found out their 
destination was about fifteen miles further on to the mouth 
of the Chariton River. 

One of the ladies in the party was sick and my mother 
agreed she could remain at our house for a rest, so she went 
to one of the saddles and pulled out her clothing. 

She told my mother her name was Patsey Millsap, and 
that she was not related to any of the party, but had joined 
them in Tennessee. She was about twenty-two. 

Next day she was better and asked mother for work and 
to remain at our house. 

Mother said we were only new-comers and that we only 
had one room for the five or six children and father and 
mother. A few days after this Mrs. Groom, a neighbor, 
called to take tea with mother and asked if she knew of any- 
one that wanted work. She said her daughter had just been 
married and they were opening a large farm. 

Mother at once introduced her to Patsey Millsap. She 
was asked if she would take the position and she said "Yes." 
Then the question of wages came up. Mrs. Groome said 



90 

she could pay 25 cents per week, and, although this was 
very cheap, Patsey agreed to take it, as she had no home. 
The two then started off for the Groome farm. 

The first day's work was washing. As the wash was be- 
hind three weeks it took a week to catch up. The Groome 

family was a large one. 

Patsey worked for a month or more, when a young man 
of 24 came along the big road. He was from Kentucky. His 
name was Richard Chaney. He stopped at the spring for a 
drink, and, looking up, saw many tall straight white oak 
trees, and, as they struck his fancy, he made up his mind to 
camp at this place, which was called Smith's White Oak 
Ridge. 

He went to a mill, got some meal, wet it up in some 
hickory leaves, opened embers and burning coals, covered 
a lump with green hickory leaves and in an hour or two his 
"pone" was done. (This we called "ash pone.") 

After his simple meal he went to work with his ax, cut 
down a four foot white oak. Then with his ax and wedge he 
made four-foot clap boards, which he carried to the big road, 
where all immigrants passed. 

He found plenty of customers for his boards, there 
being no trouble to get logs for a cabin, but planks and shin- 
gles were scarce. Dick soon filled his pockets with silver 
and thought he would get some meat, getting tired of 
"pone," so he went to old Daddie Groome's place for some 
bacon. He saw Patsey on his first visit and it was a case 
of love at first sight. A few days later a match was made, 
and Patsey told Mother Groome she was going to marry 
Dick, and that party at once told Daddie Groome. Daddie 



91 

called Patsey to one side and said: "I understand you and 

Dick are going to get married." 

Patsey said: "We so contemplate to do." 

"Well," said Daddie Groome, "Dick is no account and 

you will starve." 

"We can live on love," said Patsey, 

"Well, go ahead," said Daddie Groome. 

They Avere married and moved into a vacant school 
house near by. They bored a hole in one of the logs, had 
one leg of the bed in the middle of the room, laid boards on 
the rails and covered them with leaves. This, with a quilt 
given by Mrs. Groome, made their bed. This was surely 
love in a cottage. 

Mrs. Groome also gave them a skillet to make pone in 
and fry meat. A few weeks later Patsey went to Groome's 
house to buy some bacon. Daddie Groome said: "Patsey, I 
thought you told me you could live on love." "So I did," 
said Patsey, "but a little bacon will help out so very much." 

Mr. Groome laughed and gave her a huge side of bacon, 
and when she oflfered to pay for it told her it would be a 
wedding present, Patsey wrapped her apron around the 
middle of the bacon, propped it on her head and started for 
home. 

Six years later we lived at Smith's Mills, now Smith- 
ville, 140 miles west of where the above happened. I was 
sent to school 13 miles away. My brother George, who 
was older than I, went with me. 

The first night, when I went to my boarding house be- 
hold our landlord and landlady were Richard Chaney and 
wife. Mrs, Patsey M. Chaney was the mother of three chil- 
dren. They owned a double log house and had 19 acres un- 
der cultivation. 



92 

A year or two later a man came along and saw Chaney's 
farm, and as Dick had not entered the land it was declared 
vacant, and belonged to the Government, subject to private 
entry. The man entered the land, about 30 acres, at $1.25 
an acre. 

The man then said he did not want Dick to have all his 
labor for nothing, so he paid him $100 if he would leave 
at once. 

Dick gratefully accepted this and went to Lexington, 
Mo., 60 miles away, and entered 80 acres, double in value 
to that which he had lost. The last I heard of them there 
were eight or ten children and all were happy and prosper- 
ous. This is the end of my love-story. 



93 
CHAPTER XXXII. 

The Famii^y of Bili. Tillery. 

In 1823, when I was ten years of age I went to school 
about thirteen miles from home. There were about forty- 
scholars in all, most of them larger than I was. There was 
one boy near my own age whose name was William Tillery. 
He was further advanced than I, having reached the higher 
class when I was still studying my A B Cs. "Bill," we will 
call him for shortness, for it was by that name he was known 
until he was eighty years of age. The Tillery family was a 
large one, many of his uncles being influential members of 
society. 

Bill grew up to manhood and when he was twenty-one 
years of age he married a Miss Poe, who came of a nice re- 
spectable family of boys and girls. Bill had a small farm of 
about thirty acres, four miles west of Liberty, Clay County, 
Mo. He was a Baptist and a very pious man. If he went 
to town on business, as soon as he got through he went 
home, in most cases getting there in time for dinner. 

Bill and his wife lived happily for a number of years and 
had eight children born to them. Then Airs. Tillery died. 
There w^as at this time one of his deceased wife's sisters liv- 
ing with him. About a year later Bill married his sister-in- 
law. They lived happily together until she died. She was 
the mother of eight children, making sixteen in all, at the 
time of the breaking out of the Civil War. 

About this time a well-to-do family who lived in Saline 
County, sent their daughter to Camden Point to a female 
academy kept by H. B. Todd. This gentleman was a first 
cousin to President Lincoln, the Todd family being a noted 
one in Kentucky, 

As this young lady student passed through Smithville 



94 

frequently on her way to college she would stop at our 
house for refreshments and rest. I had an adopted daugh- 
ter attending the same college. 

The young lady graduated and then married a gentle- 
man and moved to a town near Cameron, Breckenridge. The 
new couple were extremely "secesh" in politics. When the 
war broke out they had four children, but the husband took 
up arms and volunteered in a company formed at Brecken- 
ridge. The Union troops at St. Joseph, Mo., were sent to 
disperse them. A fight took place and this husband was 
killed. His house was burned down and all his goods and 
chattels were destroyed. 

The young widow with four children was left destitute, 
but the Union captain took her to Liberty, Mo., and got a 
dilapidated house for her and her children. He ordered the 
Union Quartermaster to issue the widow rations. 

In the meantime John Gragg, a good Union man, wished 
to employ a schoolma'am to teach a common district school. 
The position was offered to the widow and she was ready to 
take it, but as President Lincoln and Governor Gamble had 
issued a proclamation which prevented any rebels from re- 
ceiving public money, she was told she would have to take 
an oath of loyalty to the United States. This stunned her, 
but as bread and butter were a necessity for her children she 
took the oath of loyalty (in her heart she asked God to for- 
give her for the false oath) and then took the school. 

She taught school until the war was over, and William 
Tillery came into view and in a short time they were mar- 
ried. They now had 20 children to begin with, quite a start. 
Bill was somewhat financially embarrassed, so he sold his 
old home, and moved to Gower, Clinton County. 

Ten years later the writer called on his old friends and 



95 

schoolmate, and b}- that time four more children had been 
born, making Bill's family twenty-four. 

The next morning Mrs. Tillery told me of her experience 
when she took the oath. She said she had asked God to 
forgive her for that oath, as her children were crying for 
bread. In the meantime I had asked Bill about his views on 
the war and he told me he had been "Southern" in view. 

As I was going to Plattsburg. Bill recommended me to 
a married daughter living there. I stopped at that house, 
but found that both her and her husband were Southern, 
too, so I left, and have never been back since. A short time 
after that Bill Tillerv died. 



96 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

BtN Franklin's Letter. 

I have in my possession a copy of a letter sent by Ben- 
jamin Franklin to his mother, in which he spoke of selling 
his slaves. If Benjamin Franklin, one of the apostles of 
freedom, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Con- 
stitution of the United States of America, living under the 
Stars and Stripes, of the spangled banner of freedom pro- 
posed TO SELL HIS SLAVES what think you? 

I set my ten negro slaves free who were worth $10,000. 

CALVIN SMITH. 



97 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

FINALK. 

This year I will be ninety-two years old, and I wish 
to say right now and here that in all my life my business 
transactions have been honorable with all men and women. 
I will be willing to meet them and square them all up and for 
the last farthing due, if any balance is found against me. 
Of course, I am not so blind to truth as to say I have not sin- 
ned; the Book says otherwise. I always considered I had no 
need to lie cheat or steal to make a living, as I claimed, and 
believed I was smart, wise and brilliant enough to make an 
honest living without these sinful practices, besides well, 
sound, and able to work and willing such villainous thoughts 
I cast from me. Rather than do wrong I would sufifer 
wrong. 

So I have contented myself for being in good company, 
even when alone, so I often commune with myself, not fear- 
ing the ofificer or detective. My conscience was my guide 
and lookout. Fearing no evil, following truth. 

I have no regret for the acts of Providence. My asso- 
ciates in younger days and manhood and in business are all 
dead, or nearly all. So it is, Amen. 

Nothing can you do for me; I am too old now. I have 
enough to supply my simple wants, which are but few. But 
I will tell you a secret: I am not poor, though I am not rich. 
What others may think does not trouble me. In one sense I 
am a rich old miser. It is true I have but little gold or silver; 
but I have two large safes — in one of them I keep the good 
deeds I have done, and in the other the happy hours and days 
I have known. I have not lived as I might have done, but 
old and feeble as I am I shall add the good now and then. 
The safes are not full yet, but I hope to fill out the measure- 



98 

ment. On rainy days, at quiet times, and nights when the 
wind howls and no one is looking in, I will get them out and 
count them over — my gleeful treasures. I try to live in such 
a way that when the time comes I shall be ready to depart. 
The poet says: 

"He who buUfls beneath the skies, builds too low. 
Faith builds a bridge from this world to the next." 

I shall soon go to bed. Wish me a pleasant night's rest; 
I surely wish you all a pleasant afternoon. 

CALVIN SMITH. 



99 

The Counties of the State of Hissouri 

and for Whom Named. 



ADAIR, called after General John Adair, of Mercer County, 
Kentucky, who was elected Governor of that State in 
1820, and died May 19, 1840. 
ANDREW, called for Andrew Jackson Davis, a prominent 

citizen of St. Louis and Savannah. Mo. 
ATCHISON, in honor of David R. Atchison. 
AUDRAIN, called for James M. Audrain, a citizen of St. 

Charles, Mo. 
BARRY, in honor of William T. Barry, one of Jackson's 

Cabinet officers. 
BARTON, called for David Barton, a prominent politician 

in the State of Missouri. 
BATES, called for Frederick Bates, second Governor of 

the State. 
BENTON, in honor of U. S. Senator Thomas H. Benton. 
BALLINGER, in honor of Major Geo. H. BalHnger. 
BOONE, named for old Daniel Boone. 
BUCHANAN, named for President James Buchanan. 
BUTLER, called for Benjamin F. Butler, Attorney General 

during Jackson's term. 
CALDWELL, named for Captain Mathew Caldwell, an In- 
dian scout and hunter of Kentucky. 
CALLAWAY, named for Captain James Callaway, killed by 

the Indians on the Lutre. 
CAMDEN, in honor of Charles Pratt Camden. 
CAPE GIRARDEAU, named for Ensign Steve Girardeau, 

a Frenchman and Indian trader. 
CARROLL, for Charls Carroll, one of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence. 



lOO 

CARTER, called for Zimri Carter, a pioneer citizen. 

CASS, in honor of Lewis Cass, U. S. Senator. 

CEDAR, after the principal stream in the county. 

CHARITON, called for John Chariton, a French fur trader. 

CHRISTIAN, named for Col. William Christian, of Ken- 
tucky. 

CLARK, nam.ed for William Clark, first Governor of Ken- 
tucky-Missouri. 

CLAY, called for Henry Clay, of Kentucky. 

CLINTON, called for G. De Witt Clinton, of New York. 

COLE, for Captain Steven Cole, who built Cole's Fort, at 
Boonville, Mo. 

COOPER, called for Sarshel Cooper, one of the first set- 
tlers of Howard County. He was killed by an Indian in 
the fort while sitting in his cabin in the year 1814. 

CRAWFORD, called for Wilham H. Crawford, a Demo- 
cratic statesman of Georgia. 

DADE, called for Major Dade, of the Seminole War, who 
was killed in Florida with one hundred men. 

DALLAS, in honor of George M. Dallas, Vice President 
with James K. Polk. 

DAVIESS, named for Col. Joseph Hamilton Daviess, of 
Kentuckv. killed in the battle of Tippecanoe. 

DE KALB, called for Baron John De Kalb, a Frenchman of 
Revolutionary fame. 

DENT, called for Lewis Dent, an early settler. 

DOUGLAS, called for Stephen A. Douglas. 

DUNKLIN, called for Daniel Dunklin, Governor of IMis- 
souri. 

FRANKLIN, named for Benjamin Franklin, printer and 
philosopher. 

GASCONADE, named for the principal river. 



lOI 

GENTRY, in honor of Col. Richard Gentry, killed at the 

battle of Ocheecobee, Florida. 
GREENE, called for General Nathaniel Greene, of the Rev- 
olution. 
GRUNDY, called for Felix Grundy, U. S. Senator of Ten- 
nessee. 
HARRISON, called for Albert G. Harrison, member of 

Congress. 
HICKORY, in honor of General Jackson, who was nick- 
named "Old Hickory." His residence, called "Hermit- 
age," is the county seat. 
HOLT, named for Dr. David Rice Holt, of Platte, who was 

a Representative. 
HOWARD, named for General and Governor Howard, of 

Kentucky. 
HOWELL received its name from Howell Valley, in which 

the first settlement was made. 
IRON, named for its great iron mines. 
JACKSON, in honor of Andrew Jackson. 
JASPER, in honor of Sergeant Jasper, of the Revolution. 
JEFFERSON, called for Thomas Jefferson. 
JOHNSON, called for Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky. 
KNOX, called for Gen. Henry Knox, of the Revolution. 
LACLEDE, called for Perry Linquest Laclede, founder of 
St. Louis. 

LAFAYETTE, named in 1825. 

LAWRENCE, named for Captain James Lawrence, of the 
war of 1812. 

LEWIS, called for Merriwether Lewis, of Lewis and Clark's 
expedition. 

LINCOLN, named for General Benjamin Lincoln, a distin- 






mail: 



MO^i 



\f_^_Z ?ll~ 



i-: _ 



V ifiir^d ct 






3ccr tibe 



aaTTte. 



103 

PERRY, called after Commodore Perry. 

PETTIS, called for Spencer Pettis, Member of Congress 
from St. Louis; killed in a duel when he was 29 years old 

PHELPS, named for John S. Phelps, Member of Congress 
and Governor. 

POLK, called for James K. Polk. 

PULASKI, named for a Polish Count, who was General 

PIKE, named for Montgomery Pike, who commanded expe- 
dition up Mississippi River in 1S06. 

PLATTE, named after its principal stream, 
in the Revolutionary- War. 

PUTNAM, named for Gen. Putnam, of Bunker Hill fame. 

RALLS, called for Daniel Ralls, member of Missouri Legis- 
lature. 

RANDOLPH, named for John Randolph. 

RAY, named for John Ray, of the Constitutional Convention, 

REYNOLDS, for Thomas Reynolds, Governor. 

RIPLEY, called for General Eleazer \V. Ripley, of War of 
1S12, and Member of Congress. 

ST. CHARLES, named in honor of Charles V. 

ST. CLAIR, called for Gen. Arthur S:. Cliir. of the Rev- 
olution. 

ST. FRANCOIS, called for its principal stream. 

ST. GENEVIEVE, named after a female saint of France. 

ST. LOUIS, after Louis XIV. of France. 

SALINE, named for its salt springs. 

SCHL'YLER. named for General Philip Schuyler, of the 
Revolution. 

SCOTLAND, named after old Scotland. 

SCOTT, after John Scott, first Member of Congress from 
Missouri. 



104 

SHANNON, called after Judge George W. Shannon, who 
was called "Peg-legged Shannon." 

SHELBY, called for Governor Isaac Shelby. 

STODDARD, called for Major Amos Stoddard, U. S. A. 

STONE, named after early settlers. 

SULLIVAN, called after James Sullivan, of the Revolution. 

TANEY, called after Chief Justice Roger P. Taney. 

TEXAS, named after the State of Texas. 

VERNON, named after Miles Vernon, a State Senator. 

WARREN, called after Joseph Warren, of Bunker Hill. 

WASHINGTON, called after George Washington. 

WAYNE, called after Anthony Wayne, of the Revolution- 
ary War. 

WEBSTER, named for Daniel Webster. 

WORTH, called for Gen. William J. Worth, of Florida and 
Mexican wars. 

WRIGHT, called for Silas Wright, Senator. 



105 



The Record of fly Wife's (Agnes Jordan) Family. 



JOHN JORDAN, SR,, was born in the year of onr Lord, 
1775, January 14. 

AGNES JORDAN, SR., was born December 9, 1778. 

MARY JORDAN was born February 27, 1797. 

SUSAN JORDAN was born July 12, 1799. 

ELIZABETH JORDAN was born September 2, 1802. 

ANNA JORDAN was born February 2, 1804. 

GEORGE W JORDAN was born February 26, 1806. 

PHOEBE JORDAN was born April, 1818. 

CYNTHL\ JORDAN was born in the year 1810. 

JAMES C. JORDAN was born March 4, 1813. 

MARGARET JORDAN was born August, 1815. 

JOHN S. JORDAN was born March i, 1818. 

AGNES JORDAN was born August 2, 1821. Married to 
Calvin Smith. March 12, 1840. West Virginia gave her 
life. State of Missouri a husband and nine children, Val- 
ley Falls, Kansas, a grave, January 5, 1884. 



INDEX. 



Chapter i — My Ancestors. 

Chapter 2— An Autobiographical Sketch. 

Chapter 3— My Father and Mother. 

Chapter 4— Childhood Recollections of 1817. 

Chapter 5— A Night Attack. 

Chapter 6— Insured to Live a Century. 

Chapter 7— The Border Ruffian War. 

Chapter 8— Noted Men I Met up to Time of the Civil War 

Chapter 9 — The Opening of the Civil War. 

Chapter 10 — Pete Lizar's Sister-in-Law's Pension. 

Chapter 11 — Lincoln's Proclamation for a Day of Prayer. 

Chapter 12 — My Letter to General Prentiss. 

Chapter 13 — The Prentiss Raid. 

Chapter 14— How I Left Smithville. 

Chapter 15 — Joining the Union League. 

Chapter 16 — The Escape of Tinsley. 

Chapter 17 — Charges Made Against Me. 

Chapter 18 — Views of the Rebellion. 

Chapter 19 — The Story of Sebree Smith. 

Chapter 20 — My Political Sentiments. 

Chapter 21 — As a Mason and Know-Nothing. 

Chapter 22 — Sporting Experiences. 

Chapter 23 — Business Experiences. 

Chapter 24 — Clay County First Settlers' Convention. 

Chapter 25 — River Stories. 

Chapter 26 — A Country Dance. 

Chapter 27 — Experiences in Des Moines, Iowa. 

Chapter 28 — Interview With Vice President Fairbanks. 

Chapter 29 — How Elliot Was Converted. 

ChBpter 30— Extracts from Newspapers. 

Chapter 31— A Romance of a Love Wedding in 1818 

Chapter 32— The Family of Bill Tillery. 

Chapter 33 — Ben Franklin's Letter. 

Chapter 34— Finale. 




DEAR WIFE, I COME. 

BORN DECEMBER 23, 1813, 

IN ERIE COUNTY, N. Y. 

WHERB I FIRST DREW BREATH 

MISSOURI GAVE ME HOME, 

KANSAS A GRAVE ; 

I KNOW JESUS IS THE CHRIST. 

DIED 

CHRISTIAN FAITH BEHOLDS A HOME ON HIGH 
CHRISTIAN HOPE GROWS BRIGHT AS YEARS GO BY, 
CHRISTIAN LOVE BREATHES TRUSTING PRAYER, 
GOING HOME AND CHRIST TELLS WHERE. 



The above inscription is to be placed on my tombstone 

— Calvin Smith 










''->. 



.^^K 









££^ 



sfeii^fe>. 



THE WORLD IS MY COUNTRY, 
AND TO DO GOOD TO MANKIND 
IS A PART OF MY RELIGION. 

— Calvin Smith 



■■^•^^ 




O 



■' 'ir 



O'Callahan Printing House 
Eighth and Sansom Sts., Philadelphia, Pa 



^9 




0' 



)0 o 






-^Mr.^ 



.^ 



. /"V \^p^' /\ >,-^„;V '/V \-' 



^^,,^^ 












.rS 







- -^"^ .<( 










